Flocks of vacationers spent less when they stayed in South Carolina during the peak tourism months of June and July, causing the first drop in the state’s hotel revenues in at least seven summers.

Government and private data show 2003 was one of the worst tourism seasons in recent years in South Carolina, with fewer jobs and lower hotel revenues from the mountains to the sea.

“This has not been the best summer. It was a lot slower than we anticipated,” said Tom Sponseller, president of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina.

Data show:

• ; Travelers statewide paid $197.5 million for hotel rooms before taxes in June and July, 6 percent less than they did in those months a year ago, based on S.C. Revenue Department figures adjusted for inflation.

• ; Myrtle Beach drew nearly as many people as usual, but they, too, spent less on rooms: $92.2 million, down 7 percent.

• ; It was the first drop in hotel revenues for the state and Horry County since at least 1996, regardless of inflation.

• ; Vacationers in Myrtle Beach spent $103 per night on a room during the summer, $10 less than the summer of 2002, according to Smith Travel, a tourism consulting company.

• ; Restaurants and hotels employed 194,500 people in June and July, down 3 percent statewide. In the Charleston metro area, those jobs fell 4 percent. Employment also fell in August in both areas.

The weak economy and layoffs have made families cautious, leading them to spend less and go home sooner, tourism officials said. The trend hurt hotels and restaurants, Sponseller said.

Hotels sold 1 percent more rooms around Myrtle Beach and 3 percent more rooms statewide, but they couldn’t draw enough additional guests to make up for the 9 percent drop in room rates, according to Smith Travel data.

Stephen Greene, spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said tourism is weak nationally, especially for people traveling by air.

Orlando, Fla., and other Southeast tourist destinations that depend on air travel have cranked up their advertising for families driving to the beach, who account for 90 percent of Myrtle Beach’s 13.7 million visitors each year.

Some of those families drove by Myrtle Beach on their way to Florida, especially in June, he said. That caught Myrtle Beach off guard.

Tourism officials had been worried about their other flank: August.

For years, Myrtle Beach’s season was strong from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

But August vacationers have dwindled in recent years as schools have been starting earlier in the Carolinas, which accounts for a third of Myrtle Beach’s visitors.

In the past year, Myrtle Beach launched an advertising campaign in newspapers in the Northeast and Midwest, where most schools still start after Labor Day. The numbers aren’t available yet, but conversations with hotel managers lead Greene to believe hotel revenues rose last month.

Myrtle Beach tourism leaders are considering a new campaign to lure more June vacationers from areas where schools end in May.

“We’ve had to spend more and more dollars shoring up the June season,” Greene said.

Meanwhile, Sponseller is seeing signs that business is improving for restaurants and hotels this fall. Fall brings far fewer travel dollars to South Carolina, and most are peeled from visitors attending business and association meetings.

He monitors bookings for meetings, which he said are up. And he talks with restaurant suppliers. One statewide distributor told him sales are rising and restaurants are paying their bills on time.

Reach DuPlessis at (803) 771-8305 or jduplessis@thestate.com.