Many towns, like Myrtle Beach, took only limited precautions at first.
Unsurprisingly, Myrtle Beach saw coronavirus cases rise in June and July. Tidelands Health had braced for a virus surge in April, but it didn’t appear, said Chief Operating Officer Gayle Resetar. When cases did begin to climb, she was caught understaffed. The facility had just three Covid-19 patients on June 16. A week later, it had 50, she said.
The rise in cases caused some visitors to rethink their summer plans. Jack Hannigan, who owns Jack’s Surf Lessons and an Airbnb in Myrtle Beach, said the store’s business was down about 25% as July 4 approached. It took until July 2 for Myrtle Beach’s city council to order masks be worn in restaurants, hotels and attractions where a social distancing of six feet couldn’t be maintained. (Bethune said they likely would have done so sooner, except for lack of clarity about whether the state would allow it.)
In Savannah, Georgia, another popular vacation spot about 170 miles to the south, Mayor Van Johnson signed a mask order on June 30, adding in a light blue scrawl at the bottom, “God help us!” Local officials there pushed business safety pledges—Savannah Safe—that included promises to follow federal and state safety guidelines, disinfect frequently touched areas and wear protective equipment. Hundreds of businesses signed on. Johnson said he spent the holiday handing out face masks to passersby.
To the delight of many business owners, the July 4 holiday crowds that usually come materialized, filling up 75% of hotel rooms in Myrtle Beach. Destinations like Myrtle Beach and Savannah benefitted from the uptick in Americans looking for post-lockdown vacations that didn’t involve airlines. Some resort areas along the Atlantic seaboard even had higher Airbnb bookings than last year.
But by mid-July, surf shop-owner Hannigan said groups were starting to cancel Airbnb reservations because of the worsening virus situation across the country, and in Myrtle Beach.
The financial impact in places like Myrtle Beach are twofold, said Daniel Guttentag, director of the Office of Tourism Analysis at South Carolina’s College of Charleston. There are the direct effects on businesses and tax losses that can degrade local services. The city already cut $8 million from its budget because of the pandemic. Hotels “are still putting heads in beds—it’s just not nearly the same number,” he said.
Karen Riordan, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said hotel occupancy may be down by 30% compared with pre-pandemic times. Some businesses will reach the off-season without enough revenue to survive the winter, said Taylor Damonte, who runs the Center for Tourism at Coastal Carolina University.
“My biggest concern is that we begin to have more and more bankruptcies and business closures,” he said. “Even the ones that reopened this summer will have a very difficult time getting through the rest of the winter, and many that didn’t reopen will likely never come back.”
Peaches Corner is a popular hot dog counter in Myrtle Beach, having presided over Ocean Boulevard since before it was even a city. Robert Alston, 69, said he’s worked as a manager and cook at Peaches for more than 20 years. On a normal Saturday afternoon in mid-July, there would be a line out the door, he said. Instead, booths with plexiglass guards sat empty.
Nearby, John Walters, 39, airbrushes designs onto t-shirts at an open-air stand. Business is still down, Walters said, adding that he may be forced to pick up a side job, like driving for Uber. “I’m banking every dollar I can scratch up so I can make it through the winter,” Walters said, “because I don’t know how I’m going to pay my bills.”
While Walters said he’s happy to airbrush designs onto people’s cloth masks, but won’t wear one because he isn’t “a sheep.”
Alan and Kathy Sander of Pennsylvania spent July 4 in their hotel room in Myrtle Beach, watching the crowded sands from their balcony. By the next weekend, with the holiday surge gone, the couple was leaning back in beach chairs under a red umbrella, yards from anyone else—but with masks at the ready.
The couple said their trip had been good except for a confrontation with people in their hotel. Kathy Sander, 55, said a woman yelled at her for wearing a mask and obeying hotel rules that only one family could use an elevator at a time.