Hardy visitors don't shy from storm

No hurricane like Ophelia was going to stop this foursome from Ohio.

The Allens and Rameys arrived on the Grand Strand on Wednesday - the day the wimpy Ophelia brushed the coast - for their annual vacation. They've been coming since the 1970s, and lots of checks on The Weather Channel and the Internet days before their arrival convinced them the storm wasn't enough for them to break their streak.

"A lot of people thought we were nuts," Mike Allen said as he unpacked beach chairs last week at the Regency Towers.

Did they ever think about canceling, especially so soon after Hurricane Katrina?

"If it had blown the beach away, maybe," Donna Allen said.

Vacationers such as the Allens helped the Grand Strand's $5 billion tourism industry bounce back immediately after Hurricane Ophelia, which caused little damage after days of anticipation watching the storm wobble in the Atlantic Ocean.

Tourism leaders don't expect any lingering negative effects from the storm, with nice weather this weekend helping remind vacationers it's OK to visit the beach.

No doubt the days of waiting for Ophelia cost the Grand Strand business, but leaders said it could have been a lot worse. Though no one has a guess on how much damage Ophelia did to bottom lines, it likely won't come close to the $30 million hit Hurricane Charley - and the mandatory evacuation east of Kings Highway - caused a year ago.

Some tourists toughed out Ophelia, passing the time during the two days of rain with movies, board games and indoor attractions. Gov. Mark Sanford urged folks to voluntarily leave homes and hotels east of Kings Highway, but not many did.

"That was a hurricane?" said Julie Herrick, a tourist from Columbia who rode out the storm in Myrtle Beach as part of her weeklong vacation. Ophelia was nothing compared to Hugo in 1989, she said.

Golf courses snapped back after Ophelia, if they even closed for the storm at all, and are ready for the busy fall season. Vacationers are soaking up the sun and taking advantage of the lower post-Labor Day hotel rates.

"Things look OK," said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. "Everybody is expected to rebound."

Business started picking up Thursday at the Carnival Motor Inn on Ocean Boulevard after five days of nearly empty rooms.

"It certainly cut off business," owner Ferrell Schmidt said. "Especially with the sensitivity that everybody has with the storms now [after Hurricane Katrina]. If you just said 'hurricane' people got ready to leave."

Ophelia's timing helped ease the blow.

The Grand Strand is in that post-summer, pre-fall lull. Kids are back in school, so the beaches aren't packed with vacationers, and the biggest wave of golfers hasn't yet arrived for the fall season, which kicks into gear at the end of September.

"There's no good time for a hurricane, but certainly we are in sort-of that lull," Dean said.

A $200,000 emergency fund set aside for post-hurricane advertising is still untapped, money not needed this time around because Myrtle Beach didn't have to remind travelers that it was still open for business.

But with the fall golf season right around the corner, Grand Strand golf promoters didn't waste any time getting the word out that the courses survived Ophelia.

By noon Wednesday - as the wind still whipped and rain came down in Horry County - marketing group Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday sent a news release letting golfers know the game will continue.

Wet greens were as bad as it got, said Mickey McCamish, the group's president. No downed trees or other damage, he said. McCamish wanted to get the latest damage report out quickly so golfers could make plans.

"The obvious question for somebody back in Ohio or New York ... they are going through the debate of 'should I come or should I not come?'" he said.

Forrest and Sue Ramey of Ohio settled that debate with the help of TV, Internet and the chamber of commerce. They arrived a day later than planned, but didn't skip their trip.

"We needed to get out of town," Sue Ramey said. "This is our getaway."