‘Great year, people are happy’: Some Myrtle Beach businesses excited to make it through busy summer season – WMBF

September 5, 2022 Kim Martel

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) – Myrtle Beach locals, tourists and businesses soaked in the last few days of summer over the busy Labor Day weekend.

Nationwide, AAA predicted that 32% of Americans would be traveling for the holiday weekend.

The Myrtle Beach Convention and Visitor’s Bureau said hotel occupancy numbers are down slightly over pre-pandemic numbers.

The organization said occupancy rates for hotel rentals in Horry County last week were down 6% over the same week in 2019.

Michelle Plyler, who is the general manager for the Gay Dolphin, said making it through the summer and Labor Day weekend brings a sigh of relief.

“When Labor Day comes, it’s kind of a celebration that we made it through the summer. You know that 100 days that are really critical to businesses down here,” Plyler said.

But Plyler and other businesses along the Boardwalk, like Peaches Corner, said it has been another successful summer in Myrtle beach.

“We are very blessed that we have had an amazing year this year. Last year, everyone wanted to go out, and we thought maybe we we’re not going to keep up, but we had a great year. People are happy to be here. They are excited and they are excited to see downtown and the changes that the businesses and the city is making. We are blessed that they had a great year,” Plyler said.

Plyler also said that they have seen improvement in people getting back to work, compared to last year’s workforce shortage.