CHARLESTON — South Carolina’s $15 billion tourism industry, the state’s largest, is expecting a boom year in 2005 after dealing with the effects of recession, the 2001 terror attacks and, last year, a parade of hurricanes.

“Projections indicate its going to be a breakout year for us,” said Marion Edmonds, spokesman for the state Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department. “We’re in a situation stronger than we were going into the recession and then 9/11.”

Last year was shaping up to be one of the best tourism seasons in years until the summer came and with it the busiest hurricane season in memory.

The centers of four tropical systems crossed the state, and two hurricanes made landfall on the coast.

“We were hurricane central,” said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach chamber of commerce, which on Wednesday through Friday will host the Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Travel. “Even with the hurricanes, we showed growth.”

Retail spending along the Grand Strand was up almost 8 percent, he said, fueled largely by the millions of tourists who come to the beach.

Statewide, hotel occupancy rates were up 2.5 percent and the average room rate was up 4 percent, according to PRT figures.

They are not the 10 percent gains in tourism the state enjoyed a decade ago, but tourism officials agreed the numbers would have been stronger had not so many summer and fall weekends been washed away by storms or the threat of storms.

“After losing all those weekends in September when we had a hurricane every weekend, we were up a little in rates and a little in occupancy, which was a nice surprise,” said Helen Hill, executive director of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Officials predict 2005 could be the best season since the 1990s.

Domestic business travel is expected to pick up after falling sharply during the recession, Edmonds said.

The relatively weak U.S. dollar also could keep Americans closer to home while attracting travelers from other countries.

Myrtle Beach will benefit from improved airline service, which will give the beach town direct connections to Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Instead of taking a flight of several legs, travelers can make more direct connections.

Beginning next month “for the first time, you will be able to leave London at 8 a.m. and be on the golf course in Myrtle Beach in mid-afternoon,” Dean said. “The family in Chicago which was limited to a 15-hour drive here for a vacation can now get here for a long weekend.”