Tourism leaders from Georgetown to Wilmington, N.C., are trying to erase geographic boundaries and form a regional group to push industry issues such as transportation, marketing and labor.

About 135 leaders from six counties in the Carolinas decided this week during the first Regional Tourism Summit to create a coastal coalition to tackle shared hardships, including finding workers, developing transportation networks and getting enough marketing dollars.

"We need a regional approach," said Tripp Sloan, owner of a vacation realty rental firm in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. "We are linked by economics, but divided by politics. Unless we form a group, then most of what we say will die here today."

Myrtle Beach's Tourism Committee, which organized the summit at Horry-Georgetown Technical College's Grand Strand Campus, will identify potential member organizations during its next meeting, which hasn't been scheduled.

Summit participants are pushing to get the group going in the coming weeks, even before the summer season kicks into full gear. They already talked about the group's first meeting, which North Carolina officials agreed to host.

The coalition would be the most elaborate step yet in creating a unified voice for coastal tourism interests, with the industry now represented by several hospitality groups and chambers of commerce.