MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.-
In summer, this beach resort attracts millions of visitors looking for sun, sand and surf. But this time of year, there is another influx of visitors, albeit much smaller, looking to escape from winter.
The snowbirds, who travel from northern states to spend the season here, provide an important economic boost to the area.
Each year about 14 million visitors flock to the Grand Strand, the 60 miles of beaches from Georgetown north to the North Carolina state line. On an average weekday last winter, there were about 34,000 visitors to the area, many of them snowbirds.
Most snowbirds start arriving after the holidays and generally stay through March, said Gary Lofts, director of Coastal Carolina University’s Center for Economic and Community Development.
Meanwhile, Myrtle Beach is also looking for new ways to attract summer visitors. The city plans to build a mile-long boardwalk to become a centerpiece of the resort town’s downtown area after the closing of the historic Pavilion amusement park this fall, according to The Sun News.
The boardwalk would run from Second Avenue North to 14th Avenue North, a stretch that includes the former Pavilion site.
“To have a one-of-a-kind, mile-long boardwalk will be iconic, and will lead to a lot of great things in the downtown area,” said Bert Anderson, chairman of the Downtown Redevelopment Corp. “It’s a matter of how to do it, not yes or no.”
The City Council formulated the plan at a recent meeting and asked city staffers to come up with a way to pay the estimated $10 million cost of the boardwalk.
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