What to know about spring break in Myrtle Beach, SC in 2022

They’re heeeeeere.

Except in Myrtle Beach, it’s not poltergeists that have arrived. It’s tourists.

March has brought the first waves of travelers back to the Grand Strand since last fall. Beaches are starting to get busier (depending on the day of the week, and the weather). Restaurants are seeing more traffic. Hotels and vacation rentals like Airbnb are filling up more and more each week.

It feels almost … normal?

This time last year, many people were hoping to feel a sense of normalcy, but that never really happened.

• When spring break arrived, COVID was still coming off its winter surge, and vaccines weren’t yet widely available.
• Tourists flooded into Myrtle Beach anyway, straining hotels and restaurants, which were suffering from one of the worst worker shortages in the region’s history.
• By the time the region was finally starting to catch its breath, the delta variant arrived at the end of summer, sickening and hospitalizing thousands across the state. It felt like deja vu from 2020, when a wave of COVID-19 during the summer put a national spotlight on the Grand Strand.

What will this year look like? Expect record-breaking crowds again but more gradual increases, instead of a sudden flood that businesses can barely handle. Also tourists will have potentially better service at hotels and restaurants, thanks to a bigger pool of workers this year that could alleviate the shortages Myrtle Beach had last year. Most places are experiencing higher prices this year, but the Grand Strand will likely be much cheaper than other travel destinations. Finally, expect a stronger sense of “normalcy” thanks to falling COVID-19 cases and the return of festivals and businesses for the first time since before the pandemic began.

Spring tourism in Myrtle Beach so far

Rather than going from hardly any tourists in late February to tens of thousands in March like last year, the increase in visitors in 2022 has been more gradual, rising slightly each week since the middle of last month. Restaurants and hotels haven’t had to deal with an onslaught of customers. Tourism leaders said many businesses prepared for the seasonal tourist rush by starting hiring as early as December 2021, four months ago.

Part of the reason Myrtle Beach hasn’t seen that flood of tourists is because there isn’t the same “pent-up demand” or “cabin fever” that drove people to the beach last spring, said Karen Riordan, CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s just like, ‘We want to enjoy our kids. They’re off school. This is something that will be fun for everybody,’” Riordan said. “I think there is a sentiment, too, of, ‘We deserve this.’”

Hotel occupancy for the week ending March 12, the most recent data available, was 53%, and vacation rental occupancy (Airbnbs and such) was 66%. For hotels, the occupancy rate was slightly lower than the previous week. Vacation rentals, however, went up by nearly 11% in the same time frame. Both occupancy rates have consistently been higher than 2021, vacation rentals particularly so.

Another bit of normalcy: Reported COVID-19 cases have been dropping each week locally and across the state. That’s happening even though very few people wear masks indoors outside of public transit and the airport, where they are still required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In fact, two of the last pieces of spring culture in Myrtle Beach, direct flights to Myrtle Beach International Airport from Canada and the annual Can-Am Days festival, returned for the first time in three years. In the coming weeks and months, the Atlantic Beach Bike Fest and the Market Common’s Dragon Boat Festival return for the first time since 2019, as well.

The one difference in day-to-day life that’s on everyone’s minds, however, is price inflation — particularly the rise in gas prices. And while fuel prices have slowed their rise, experts doubt they’ll go down soon. GasBuddy, which tracks fuel prices across the nation, said the new height the U.S. could be looking at is $4.50 per gallon average for gasoline this summer.

Myrtle Beach might not have to worry about gas prices hurting the tourism industry, experts and tourism leaders say. It’s a strange correlation, but the Grand Strand has often done better in periods of high gas prices.

The reason? People don’t just cancel their vacations when gas prices go up, or when prices in general go up.

“I don’t think that’s going to be enough to actually dissuade someone who really wants to go on vacation,” Riordan said. Instead, they look for more affordable options for their vacation — something Myrtle Beach has long been known for.

Myrtle Beach benefits, Riordan said, in comparison to places like Disney, which has recently been criticized by some longtime fans for becoming so expensive that “the magic is gone.” Not only is Myrtle Beach more affordable, it’s also within a single day’s drive of many more states and millions more people than Disney.

“That’s always been part of the magic of Myrtle Beach,” Riordan said.

What’s different going forward

The primary change Myrtle Beach could run into this year is that vacationers might be spending less when they do visit. Riordan said travelers, especially those staying in condos with full kitchens, might opt to cook more or buy more groceries to feed their kids for breakfast and snacks, rather than eating out as much.

On top of that, the stimulus checks and child tax credits that helped fund the deluge of travelers last year are long past. It’s been almost a year since the last stimulus check, $1,400, went out. The child tax credit, $300 a week, lapsed in January after failing to get renewed by Congress.

Riordan said businesses and the chamber factored the lack of stimulus money into their economic impact estimates for this year. The idea was that visitor spending might be slightly suppressed.

“Right now, we’re not seeing any evidence of that,” she said.

One thing that’s helping: For now, at least, hotel rental rates have yet to go up. Most of the current inflationary pressure in the Grand Strand is at the supermarket and on restaurant menus, Riordan said.

There’s also one upside to inflation. It’s likely to encourage more people to rejoin the workforce, which should help worker shortages at restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues, meaning better service for guests.

Travelers’ interests have also shifted a little in the past couple of years. Riordan said internet traffic to VisitMyrtleBeach.com, operated by the chamber, is still heavily focused on outdoor activities. That makes sense, because this is a beach town, but she said the interest is stronger than usual.

“It’s really better from a wellness perspective that they’re out getting steps in, fresh air and just being a little bit more active is a very good thing,” Riordan said.

There are also a lot of new businesses visitors will see for the first time ever when they visit this year. The Market Common, for one, has added a host of new restaurants and shops in a recent growth spurt. Riordan said the chamber has also seen a rise in membership, indicating a rise in new businesses and entrepreneurship across the region.

Looking ahead

Spring is a bellwether for summer. A busy spring in Myrtle Beach typically means a busy summer. Last year, an off-the-rails spring forebode a record-breaking summer.

Thomas Stevens, who owns Bar Louie at Broadway at the Beach, said he’s looking forward to the rest of spring, but he does fear inflation will both force him to raise prices and cause people to eat out less.

“I’m optimistic about Myrtle Beach. I think they’re doing all the right things. They’re doing a lot of good things to get people in here,” Stevens said. “There’s no COVID, so to speak, so that helps.

“But I will say, these gas prices and inflation and everything like that, that’s a negative.”

If it’s any measure of hope, gas prices have leveled out since the initial spikes to nearly $4 a gallon. In the last week, the average cost in Myrtle Beach is now $3.93, according to GasBuddy. That’s 9.3 cents lower than last week.

The height of spring travel will be the weeks before and after Easter, Riordan said. That covers the span of April 9-24. Throughout the season, there will be waves of travelers from different locales and states, depending on when their spring break sets students free for a week.

Though travelers from up north, in particular, have already come to the beach. The water might be chilly, Riordan said, but it’s still a lot warmer than the frigid Northeast, which has seen several cold snaps recently.

This spring has also brought the return of a host of sports competitions. Riordan said she hopes that will turn into repeat travel this summer, with children who came here for a softball, soccer or cheerleading event asking their parents to bring them back.

Mark Lazarus, who owns several amusement and water parks around town, hopes the spring is a fresh start for tourism and that the region stays on that path through summer.

“I think it’s going to be a really big summer,” he said. Let’s “get back to some normalcy.”