Back in April, officials in Myrtle Beach were scrambling to set minds at ease that the destination’s infrastructure, including hotels, the airport and beaches, were unaffected by a blaze in North Myrtle Beach that completely destroyed 70 homes and damaged 82 others. Kimberly
Miles, public relations manager for the Myrtle Beach Area CVB, was putting out fires herself, even though the wildfire was contained in short order.
“We were getting calls continuously,” Miles says. “We were letting people know that not all of the city was on fire like it seemed to be in media reports. Unfortunately, many local residents lost their homes.”
Miles reports that Myrtle Beach hotels, convention spaces and attractions are open for groups, and it’s business as usual for this de facto hub of the Grand Strand, the 60-plus-mile-long stretch of beach towns and barrier islands extending from Cape Fear, N.C., to Georgetown, S.C.
Myrtle Beach came to be as lumber workers from nearby Conway, S.C., realized that its sun and sand made for a perfect getaway. It has grown into a major resort city renowned not only for its beaches, but also for its 120 golf courses, which has earned the city its “Golf Capital of the World” moniker. More than 10 million people visit the destination every year, and it has become a powerhouse for meetings and events. The Myrtle Beach area includes 12 distinct cities.
“We are attracting a lot of events because the word is getting out about how much is here,” says Danna Lily, director of sales for the Myrtle Beach Area CVB. “We’ve traditionally been known as a beach and golf destination. But in the last five or six years, we’ve added upscale meeting facilities and more shopping opportunities and other attractions.”
Lily says Myrtle Beach is home to about 90,000 hotel rooms.
“In addition to the large number of rooms, we have a diverse mix of hotels that tailor to different needs,” Lily notes. “We have multiple-bed condo rentals, upscale guest rooms or more traditional business hotels.”
She points out that around 30 hotels in the Myrtle Beach area offer a substantial amount of facilities for groups.
The largest group hotel is actually four brands under the umbrella of Kingston Plantation, which features more than 1,300 rooms divvied up between the Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort, Embassy Suites Myrtle Beach, Royale Palm Condominiums and Kingston Plantation Condos, which can all be utilized by groups, Lily says. The complex includes 113,000 square feet of event space.
The obvious choice for plenty of elbow room is the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, which offers a 100,800-square-foot exhibition hall, a 17,000-square-foot ballroom and 17 meeting rooms. Attached to the complex is the Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel.
Other top group-friendly hotels include Myrtle Beach Marriott Resort at Grande Dunes, Marina Inn at Grande Dunes, Bay Watch Resort and Conference Center and Grande Shores Ocean Resort.
Additionally, Avista Resort in North Myrtle Beach offers event space for 10 to 400 people. Its 3,600-square-foot Avalon Room can seat 400 theater style or 186 classroom style. Island Vista Resort boasts a ballroom and a restaurant, which includes floor-to-ceiling windows with ocean views. The restaurant can be utilized as banquet space for groups. Another meetings option is Barefoot Resort in North Myrtle Beach, which provides 17,000 square feet of meeting space.
At Pawley’s Island, Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort features around 19,000 square feet of event space, including the 3,300-square-foot Tara Ballroom.
“What sets Myrtle Beach apart from other destinations, aside from our Southern hospitality, is that we have different sets of experiences,” Lily says. “If groups want hustle and bustle, the center of Myrtle Beach provides that. If groups desire tranquility, a number of resorts just north of town and a number of fishing villages offer a more laid-back attitude.”
Any good primer of Myrtle Beach can’t omit a discussion of Broadway at the Beach, located in the heart of the city. This 350-acre entertainment complex isn’t your average attraction with a couple of theaters and themed restaurants. The South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism deems it the state’s best travel destination.
Broadway at the Beach is situated around the 23-acre Lake Broadway and features 17 restaurants, an amusement park, a NASCAR Speedpark, movie theaters, Ripley’s Aquarium and the Palace Theater, which puts on live shows with Broadway actors. Celebrity Square features a New Orleans-inspired nightclub district.
Barefoot Landing, which lies along the Intracoastal Waterway in North Myrtle Beach, offers more entertainment options. Group can stop in at one of the 15 waterfront restaurants for Calabash-style seafood (in which seafood is lightly battered and deep-fried).
Miles explains that Calabash is the name of a North Carolina coastal town near South Carolina’s border for which the style of food is named. Calabash cooking has made its way onto menus farther down the Grand Strand.
The area is renowned for its many golf courses, which are also scenically beautiful. Courses are located amid oak trees draped in moss along the Intracoastal Waterway, Waccamaw River or Atlantic Ocean. The chances of spotting an alligator may prompt novices to hit the greens.
Groups can also explore the area through narrated tours in a Jeep, by boat or bus. Popular tours include trips to antebellum plantations Hopsewee and Hampton and the 17,500-acre wildlife refuge Hobcaw Barony.
Myrtle Beach doesn’t disappoint art lovers. The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum is housed in a restored 1920s beach cottage and is considered the Strand’s home for contemporary art. Groups can check out its 10 galleries of art, as well as older artwork, including quilts and antique maps and prints. Admission is free. Group tours are available, and three different Art Adventures are offered. The venue also hosts meetings and receptions. Its event space features beach views.
The Horry County Museum, housed in a converted post office in Conway, features monthly exhibits by local artists, in addition to its historical and regional exhibits. It also offers walking tours of Conway’s historic district.
Attendees who are die-hard shoppers will appreciate the wares available at the many boutiques, outlet stores and souvenir shops. The new upscale shopping complex, The Market Common, opened recently near the airport, and other standout shopping options include the Myrtle Beach Mall, Inlet Square and Coastal Grand malls, Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing. A nice souvenir to pick up is a handmade hammock at Pawleys Island Hammock Shops.
The Myrtle Beach area’s coastal setting and abundance of outdoor activities make the destination ideal for team-building activities. Miles of public beaches, two oceanfront state parks, hiking and biking trails, and the ocean, rivers and marshlands provide numerous opportunities. Nature expeditions, kayaking excursions, deep-sea fishing trips, parasailing and jet skiing are just some of the options.
Little River Fleet offers half-day, three-quarter and full-day fishing trips.
Myrtle Beach is also a great place for scuba diving. Nu Horizons Dive and Travel takes groups out to explore shipwrecks.
Attendees who love sports can also take advantage of options such as SportsZone in Little River, the Strand’s only state-of-the-art indoor sports facility. It includes courts for dodgeball, volleyball and racquetball, as well as an arcade. The facility even includes the Touch Healing Center, which provides spa services using organic Hungarian skin care products, including a 30-minute Foot Detox, a hot stone massage and a variety of facials.
The Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a minor-league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, play in Coastal Federal Field. Baseball fans may also appreciate The Ripken Experience, which opened three years ago. The facility boasts six youth and three regulation-size baseball fields, each modeled after one of the game’s historic ballparks: Polo Grounds in New York; Comiskey Park in Chicago and Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
“That’s what groups seem to be impressed by the most,” Lily says. “There are so many things to do, and we seem to be adding new things all the time.”
A number of new developments are taking shape in Myrtle Beach. The new downtown boardwalk is part of the new efforts the city is taking to revamp old downtown Myrtle Beach. Construction of the $12 million, mile-long Oceanfront Boardwalk and Promenade is slated to begin this fall, with completion by 2011.
Wonderworks, a hands-on science attraction, is expected to open at Broadway at the Beach in spring 2010. An upside-down building, a volcano, a lighthouse and an Egyptian pyramid will be some of the complex’s elements. Attendees with acrophobia may appreciate the attraction’s virtual rollercoaster ride.
Meanwhile, Myrtle Beach is capitalizing on its cuisine scene.
“Myrtle Beach has been expanding its offerings for groups to include new culinary tours, which have been increasingly popular,” Miles notes. “In addition to trying new foods that you might not have tried, these tours give visitors a taste of the history of the Myrtle Beach area.”
The Food Syndicate, a group of local food and restaurant businesses headed up by food writer Becky Billingsley, recently launched its Grand Strand Culinary Tours, which provide a selection of restaurant tour packages designed for groups of 20 to 50 people. Guides educate groups on how Spaniards, Huguenots, American Revolutionaries, plantation owners and others contributed to the unique cuisine of the Myrtle Beach area. Tours vary from a simple lunch in Myrtle Beach to a walking culinary excursion in historic Conway, located about 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach on the western banks of the Waccamaw River.
Conway is one of the oldest towns in South Carolina, established in 1734. Many of its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its city hall was designed by Robert Mills, the architect of the Washington Monument.
“Conway is a quaint fishing village on the river,” Miles says. “It’s a special town with a lot of history and great seafood restaurants.”
Along those same savory lines, The Brentwood Restaurant and Wine Bar in Little River, S.C., just a half hour north of Myrtle Beach, recently began offering French cooking classes for groups hosted by chef Eric Masson, a native of Brittany, France, who trained at the Ferrandi culinary school in Paris. For attendees seeking to hit the beach to clear their heads before focusing on lessons in bechamel and bearnaise, Cherry Grove Beach is just seven minutes from Little River.
Accessibility is another key selling point of Myrtle Beach. Several new air routes were launched this year, including nonstop daily service on Spirit Airlines to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (offered seasonally from March 1 to Nov. 11) and daily nonstop United Express flights to Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport.
Direct Air also began new Myrtle Beach service this year. Direct Air offers nonstop flights from Kalamazoo, Mich.; Toledo, Ohio; Rockford, Ill.; Worcester, Mass.; and Allentown, Pa. The carrier also launched winter service from Niagara Falls and Plattsburgh, N.Y., as well as service to Punta Gorda, Fla., three days a week.
The new routes will be facilitated by the $130 million expansion of the Myrtle Beach International Airport. The facility’s General Aviation Terminal for private aircraft is slated for completion this fall. Five more gates will be built in the airport’s passenger terminal starting in 2010.
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Myrtle Beach Area CVB 843.448.1629 www.visitmyrtlebeach.com
