A Historic Overview of Charleston's

Tourism Industry in the 21st Century

Bing Pan, Ph.D.

Office of Tourism Analysis, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management

School of Business, College of Charleston

Presentation to Travel Council Meeting, CACVB, August 12, 2014

Introduction

• Office of Tourism Analysis, School of Business, College of

Charleston, has been funded mainly by CACVB and the

College of Charleston since 2005

• Dr. Bing Pan, originally from China, received his Ph.D. in

Tourism Management from the University of Illinois, was a

Post-Doc Fellow at Cornell University, and has worked in

the Office since 2005

“We are at a tipping point…”

“This city has tipped over…” --------- Comments from Charleston residents, Post and

Courier, June 12, 2014

An historic overview

Tourism Impact and Management Study, Charleston, South Carolina, 1978

Content

• Definition of a Charleston visitor

• Different indicators of Charleston tourism in

recent years

• Comparison with other cities

What is a Charleston visitor?

• Due to the tight economic connection in the Charleston-

Berkeley-Dorchester tri-county area, a Charleston visitor

is considered any traveler from outside the tri-county

area taking a trip to the area, for less than a year, for any

purpose other than to be employed in Charleston. These

purposes could include business, leisure or other

personal purpose.

Indicators of the Tourism Industry

• Behavioral Indicators

– Foot traffic, attendance at gated events, number of

cars, cruise passenger count, large space rental

statistics, traffic on CVB website

• Financial Indicators

– Rooms sold, taxes, revenue

• Supply Indicators

– Hotel inventory

Attraction Attendance Trends

(17 Attractions)

Data Source: CACVB2009-2013: 10.7% increase

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Attraction Attendance Trend 2009-2013

Historic Houses Museums Plantations Other Attractions Grand Total

Downtown Carriage Tours

Data Source: Tourism Office, City of Charleston

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,00033,878

39,260

Number of Carriage Tours Annually

2000-2013: 15.8% increase

Peninsula Bus Tour Permits

Data Source: Tourism Office, City of Charleston

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Tour Permit

Parking Permit

Transporation Permit (Non-Touring)

Number of Events in the City

2009 – 2013: 63.0% of Increase

Data Source: Special Event Committee, City of Charleston

254

316366

354

414

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Small Events (under 500)

Medium Events (500-1000)

Major Events (over 1000)

total Events

Airport Traffic

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

834,787

1,357,813

Charleston International Airport Enplanement

Recession

Data Source: FAA and Charleston International Airport

2000-2013: 62.7% of increase

Recession

40.8% visitors, 59.2% residents

-- 2007 Office of Tourism Analysis Survey

Cruise Ship Traffic Trends

Data Source: South Carolina Port Authority2000-2013: 546.7% increase in passengers

18

88

29,084

188,082

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

Number of Vessels

Number of Passengers

Hotel Room Supply Trends

Data Source: Smith Travel Research

2,544 3,569

7,184

909 1,675

4,253

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

Peninsula North Charleston

Mt. Pleasant West Ashley

City County

Tri-County Area

Hotel Room Demand Trends (Roomnights Sold)

Data Source: Smith Travel Research

672,608 1,033,816

235,181 468,412

1,076,660

1,828,873

0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

3,500,000

4,000,000

4,500,000

5,000,000Peninsula North Charleston

Mt. Pleasant West Ashley

City County

Tri-County Area

Recession

Recession

Compare Room Supply Peninsula

vs. Non-Peninsula

2,261

3,569

6,852

14,528

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

Available Hotel Room Comparision

Peninsula

Tri-County Non-Peninsula

Compare Room Demand Peninsula

vs. Non-Peninsula

825,265

1,302,554

2,501,060

5,302,698

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

Annual Roomnights Sold Comparision

Peninsula

Tri-County Non-Peninsula

PeninsulaNorth

Charleston

Mt.

Pleasant

West

AshleyCity County

Tri-County

Area

Tri-County

Non-

Peninsula

National

Supply 40.3% 87.4% 155.1% 78.2% 56.3% 74.3% 67.9% 76.4% 44.1%

Demand 53.7% 92.3% 157.3% 92.8% 69.9% 84.8% 76.0% 76.4% 38.7%

Hotel Room Supply & Demand Trends, 1994-2013

Data Source: Smith Travel Research

Population Change

Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau

City of CHS 1990-2012 21.4%

CHS County 1994-2012 19.1%

Tri-County 1994-2012 32.6%

United States 1994-2012 20.5%

103,477116,278

125,583

526,130

697,439

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

Charleston City Charleston County Charleston Tri-County

Person-Trips Per Capita

• TNS Global’s household survey, 18,000 monthly,

2011-2013

• Person-Trips Per Capita = (Estimated average annual

person-trips in 3 years, in thousands )/(average city

population in 3 years, in thousands)

• 499 cities in the United States

Person-Trips Per Capita

Rank City/TownVisitors

per Capita

1 Tunica, MS 1,525

2 Wisconsin Dells, WI 1,374

18 Myrtle Beach, SC 229

50 Orlando, FL 109

66 Aspen, CO 78

83 Hilton Head, SC 59

95 Santa Barbara, CA 49

102 Charleston, SC 44

116 Florence, SC 39

119 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 37

122 Savannah, GA 37

143 Las Vegas, NV 33

149 Columbia, SC 32

239 New Orleans, LA 20

269 San Francisco, CA 18

317 Boulder, CO 15

322 Boston, MA 14

489 Greenville/Spartanburg, SC 3

496 New York City 2

Comparison with Peer Cities

City Country

Charleston, SC United States

Savannah, GA United States

Boulder, CO United States

Aspen, CO United States

Boston, MA United States

New Orleans, LA United States

San Francisco, CA United States

Quebec City Canada

Amsterdam The Netherland

Dublin Ireland

Gothenburg Sweden

Malaga Spain

Salzburg Austria

Venice Italy

Hamilton Bermuda

Comparison with Downtown of Peer Cities

Country CityHotels Per

Square Mile

Hotel Rooms per

Square Mile

Restaurants Per Capita (X1,000)

Hotels Per Capita (X

1,000)

Hotel Rooms Per Capita (X

1,000)

Restaurants Per Square

Mile

United States New Orleans, LA 28.34 5,558.31 120.11 31.12 6,104.42 109.37United States Boulder, CO 27.27 3,981.82 47.83 2.61 380.87 500.00United States Boston, MA 17.56 3,921.37 11.79 0.63 141.17 327.48

The Netherland Amsterdam 61.90 3,849.95 N/A 2.40 148.98 N/AUnited States San Francisco, CA 15.94 2,560.08 5.75 0.73 116.54 126.28Italy Venice 50.53 2,074.15 7.65 2.25 92.35 171.82Canada Quebec City 20.86 1,535.25 N/A N/A N/A 114.39Bermuda Hamilton 7.32 1,173.17 22.22 1.67 267.22 97.56United States Savannah, GA 8.37 834.31 8.00 1.85 184.48 36.19Ireland Dublin 7.94 727.35 N/A N/A N/A N/AUnited States Charleston, SC 5.22 591.15 6.63 1.02 115.83 33.82United States Aspen, CO 6.86 424.57 N/A N/A N/A 41.71Spain Malaga 3.66 330.04 N/A N/A N/A 74.73Sweden Gothenburg N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Austria Salzburg N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 46.56

Comparison with Peer Cities

Country CityHotels Per

Square Mile

Hotel Rooms per Square

Mile

Restaurants Per Capita (X1,000)

Hotels Per Capita (X 1,000)

Hotel Rooms Per Capita (X

1,000)

Restaurants Per Square Mile

United StatesSan Francisco, CA

4.76 723.38 3.30 0.27 41.05 58.22

United States Aspen, CO 6.86 424.57 21.86 3.59 222.46 41.71

Ireland Dublin 3.43 421.14 1.94 0.29 35.12 23.32

United States Boston, MA 1.57 394.93 1.76 0.12 29.96 23.16

The Netherland Amsterdam 6.22 378.38 2.83 0.51 31.05 34.47

Austria Salzburg 3.94 224.69 2.67 0.67 38.43 15.60

United States New Orleans, LA 0.86 151.65 3.23 0.40 69.58 6.60

United States Savannah, GA 1.18 118.50 3.55 0.86 86.06 4.89

United States Boulder, CO 0.85 89.92 2.66 0.21 21.82 10.97

United States Charleston, SC 0.53 65.56 3.47 0.46 56.89 4.00

Italy Venice 1.18 60.83 3.25 0.70 35.97 5.49

Canada Quebec City 0.46 31.84 2.60 0.16 10.80 7.65

Spain Malaga 0.29 28.77 1.89 0.08 7.84 6.93

Bermuda Hamilton 0.15 23.35 13.00 0.87 138.98 20.45

Sweden Gothenburg 0.38 N/A 1.86 0.13 N/A 5.29

-----City of Charleston residents survey, 2014

Concluding Remarks

• The City of Charleston’s visitor volume has higher growth

than the national average: roughly 70% increase in visitor

volume in the last 20 years; 2.7% annually on average

• The visitor volume in the tri-county area grew more: 76% in

the last 20 years, and 2.9% annual growth

• Peninsula had a more controlled growth than the City and

the tri-county area due to the City’s successful management

Concluding Remarks

• Greater growth in events than attractions in recent years

• Charleston is evolving into a metropolitan area.

• Compared to peer historic cities, downtown Charleston is

still one of the lowest in tourism development.

• The friendliness of the City depends on the attitude of

residents toward visitors to Charleston. Thus, successful

management of residents’ perception is also the key.

Acknowledgements

• Perrin Lawson and Helen Hill, Charleston Convention and Visitors

Bureau

• Yvonne Fortenberry and Tim Keane, Planning, Preservation &

Sustainability, City of Charleston

• Melinda Patience and John Crotts, Office of Tourism Analysis,

College of Charleston

• Christopher Flowers, MBA student, College of Charleston

• Mary Graham, Chamber of Commerce

• Vanessa Turner-Maybank, City of Charleston