COLUMBIA - The state's hard-hitting tourism advertising campaign will show a bit of a softer side this year.

South Carolina will court women, the segment that decides where to go on trips 75 percent of the time. That includes efforts to lure black women, despite the lingering effects of the NAACP's tourism boycott of South Carolina.

Ads will appear in 16 women-based magazines, including Southern Living, Family Circle and Woman's Day. Those will mix with spots in newer publications such as O, More and Lifetime.

State leaders, who unveiled the plan Tuesday to about 150 tourism leaders at the Columbia Conference Center, see women as untapped markets.

"Not many states have found these," said Catherine D'Azevedo of The Leslie Agency. "South Carolina will have an opportunity to move ahead. Women are at the helm of the decision-making process."

Targeting women is a wise move, said Frans Mustert of Patricia Resorts.

"I'm tickled pink about how they are focused," Mustert said of the PRT. "It's either the children or the women that make the decisions."

Black women offer a $5.5 billion market the PRT plans to tap with ads in magazines such as Ebony and Heart & Soul.

"Those are dollars that are growing. Those are dollars we want to take advantage of," said Anastasia Howard of The Leslie Agency. "South Carolina is serious about reaching this particular audience."

The nearly 5-year-old boycott by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People over the Confederate flag at the Statehouse won't get in the way, Prosser said.

"We are being proactive," he said. "The issue of the flag is not really an issue in the eyes of the people coming here. We're over that to a great extent."

The focus is part of a $11.8 million marketing plan this fiscal year - the most the PRT has spent promoting the state's $14.4 billion tourism industry in recent memory. The plan also includes a stepped-up, nearly $1 million effort to showcase the quality of the state's golf offerings. The state will spend more on golf this budget year than it has the past four budget years combined, said PRT Director Chad Prosser.

"S.C. has, in many respects, lost our position [as a golf leader]," he said. "We want to put South Carolina back on that pedestal."

Mickey McCamish, president of marketing group Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, welcomes the help in promoting golf courses. The PRT plans ads in Golf Digest and online at http://www.pgagolf.com/.

"It's a great opportunity," McCamish said. "It will increase the awareness of South Carolina as a quality golf resort destination."

Because of an agency restructuring earlier this year that cut about 200 jobs, the PRT will spend more of this year's budget, about 25 percent, for ads.

About $4.5 million this budget year is earmarked for ads, compared with $2.9 million last year.

Strand tourism leaders liked the plan's renewed focus as much as the size.

"It's not just a bigger campaign, but a better one," said Brad Dean, the chamber's chief financial officer.