Encompassing a dozen South Carolina coastal communities, Myrtle Beach is launching new attractions as it approaches a new summer, bringing added excitement to the 60 miles of coastline known as the Grand Strand.
Two years ago, the city of Myrtle Beach unveiled a new 1.2-mile downtown boardwalk and promenade, replacing one that had been destroyed during storms many decades ago. In May 2011, it welcomed a new boardwalk centerpiece: SkyWheel, a Ferris wheel soaring 18 stories high.
The destination also has two new zip lines. Since spring of this year, individuals and groups have been able to zip through an area that was once the site of downtown’s old Pavilion Amusement Park, and also on a new zip line at the Family Kingdom Amusement Park. They have also been able to try out the new NASCAR Racing Experience at the Myrtle Beach Speedway.
A tourism magnet that brings in around 15 million visitors a year to the coasts of Horry and Georgetown counties, the area serves up almost 90,000 hotel rooms, almost 2,000 restaurants and more than 100 golf courses. It is also a destination with more than 50 hotels with meeting facilities, a dozen with more than 10,000 square feet of available space.
“Myrtle Beach has long been known as one of the South’s top leisure and golf destinations. With development over the past five to 10 years in branded and recognized hotel names in the meetings industry, planners are now discovering the benefits of bringing meetings to Myrtle Beach—many of the same pleasures that leisure visitors have known for years,” says Danna Lilly, director of sales at the Myrtle Beach Area CVB. “Our favorite remark, and one that we hear repeatedly, is, ‘Wow. I had no idea you had so much to offer.’ Fam trips are very important. Myrtle Beach is truly a destination that you must see to appreciate.”
She also advises planners to never let a preconceived notion influence their final location decision without having a first-hand experience.
“Second- and even third-tier destinations can provide some of the most surprising experiences at more affordable price points,” Lilly says. “Myrtle Beach has a record for breaking attendance numbers.”
At the destination’s heart is the 250,000-square-foot Myrtle Beach Convention Center, which includes a 100,800-square-foot, column-free exhibition hall and a 17,000-square-foot ballroom. Attached to it is the 400-room Myrtle Beach Sheraton Convention Center Hotel, with a ballroom hosting up to 1,200.
Several blocks away, lining the beach are hotels with more than 1,000 rooms within a half-mile of the center. Myrtle Beach International Airport, which will open a $130 million terminal expansion early next year, increasing the number of gates from seven to 12, is just three miles from the center.
New dining accompanying the airport expansion will include the locally inspired Bubba’s Fish Shack and Nacho Hippo, and national chains’ Dunkin’ Donuts and Steak n’ Shake.
Myrtle Beach-based Direct Air ended its charter operation in March and is in chapter 7 liquidation. However, summer lift has been boosted by new service that started in May. Vision Airlines began nonstop 737 jet service from eight markets, and Spirit Airlines added three nonstop flights per week week from Dallas-Fort Worth.
Hotels and Resorts
Eight miles north of the convention center, between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach, Kingston Resorts features Kingston Plantation and the adjacent Kingston Shores. Together they include Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort and Embassy Suites Myrtle Beach, plus condos, town homes and vacation villas. In total, there are more than 1,600 guest units, 113,000 square feet of meeting space and 72 holes of golf.
Last year, the Embassy Suites renovated its 255 suites as well as its sport and health club. The multimillion-dollar project included enhancements to the lobby, restaurants and common areas, and the addition of a new oceanfront restaurant.
Another resort, Grande Dunes, also boasts two full service hotels: the 400-room Marriott Myrtle Beach, with 45,000 square feet of meeting space and the 200-room Marina Inn, with 15,000 square feet of function. The property also has two 18-hole golf courses.
Other major meetings properties include Bay Watch Resort and Conference Center, with 6,500 square feet of function space; the Landmark Resort, with 20,000 square feet of meeting space; Ocean Dunes/Sand Dunes & Conference Center, with 18,000 square feet of function space; and Sea Mist Oceanfront Resort, with 17,000 square feet of meeting space.
Broadway at the Beach
Less than a mile-and-a-half inland from the convention center is Broadway at the Beach, a shopping, dining and entertainment district with numerous off-site venue options and several new attractions.
Its latest offerings include the Backstage Mirror Maze and the Vault Laser Maze, both of which opened in April in a 2,500-square-foot space next to Landry’s Seafood House, one of the area’s 20-plus restaurants. Backstage Mirror is based on a 1930s New York attempted bank robbery in which robbers tried to escape through a maze of theater back stages.
Wonderworks Science Center, a 40,000-square-foot Broadway at the Beach attraction with more than 100 hands-on exhibits, debuted last year and is billed as “an amusement park for the mind.” Here visitors can experience hurricane-force winds, maneuver a NASA space shuttle, pilot a fighter jet, or experience a pirate-themed ropes course. It also has a zipline that transports participants 1,000 feet between towers located 50 feet above water.
Among the complex’s more than 20 attractions is Ripley’s Aquarium, which unveiled a new dinosaur exhibit in April that runs through Labor Day. It features life-size dinosaurs.
Boardwalk & Promenade
Home to festivals and events, a handful of hotels, plus shops and arcades, the $6.5 million Boardwalk and Promenade crosses through the sand from the 2nd Avenue North pier to the 14th Avenue North pier. Soon after opening in 2010, National Geographic named it the country’s No. 3 boardwalk after Atlantic City and Coney Island; Travel and Leisure named it No. 2 after Coney Island.
SkyWheel, which opened last year on Ocean Boulevard, has 42 glass-enclosed, temperature-controlled gondolas, each holding six people. With it came a Jimmy Buffett’s Landshark restaurant, an observation deck, a gift shop and an evening light show.
Also on Ocean Boulevard, the new zip line operated by Myrtle Beach Zipline Adventures allows participants to zip 600 feet between platforms. There is also an option allowing visitors to freefall off a 60-foot platform until the harness is slowed near the ground.
The company is planning a second zip line for a site at Springmaid Boulevard. Also, the Family Kingdom Amusement Park, which has 30 rides, recently added a zip line in which riders sit in a motorized chair.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary, downtown’s landmark Peaches Corner restaurant across from the old Pavilion Amusement Park site and near the new zip line has undergone renovations and features a new facade.
Action, Attractions and Shows
When it opened for the racing season in April, a renovated Myrtle Beach Speedway, under new ownership, also debuted the NASCAR Racing Experience. It is the 11th U.S. location for the Charlotte, N.C.-based Racing Experience, which offers classroom training, track driving and drive-along programs.
Celebrating its 15th anniversary, the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum launched a yearlong campaign called “I Heart Art,” with special events throughout the year designed to get the public excited about art.
Close to the museum is the city’s longest pier, Springmaid Pier, which along with its restaurant, BARnacles, recently underwent renovations. The pier fronts Springmaid Beach Resort & Conference Center, which has 35,000 square feet of meeting space.
This month in Myrtle Beach, the Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament, which has nine North America locations, will opening its first new show in more than four years, promising more action, more rivalry and more revelry and including a new story, new costumes and new battle scenes.
Last summer, Dolly Parton opened Pirates Voyage–Fun, Feast & Adventure, and an $11 million production that replaced the Dixie Stampede.
Among other theaters with live performances are the Alabama Theatre, Carolina Opry, Celebration Music Theatre, Legends in Concert, The House of Blues and the Palace Theatre.
There has been no word on the proposed Pat Boone Family Theater, which was expected to open last October. Construction on the 600-seat theater, which would replace the former NASCAR Cafe restaurant, was halted late last year.
Tony Bartlett has been writing about the travel trade industry for more than 25 years.
