Hilton Head Island reaches full capacity on Fourth of July weekend

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) - The official numbers aren’t ready yet but as expected, Fourth of July crowds flooded Hilton Head Island over the weekend.

“It was a whirlwind. At one point I think we looked at each other and we were like oh my gosh,” Kelsi Richardson, Stylist, Birdie James said.

A frenzy of customers storming this boutique in shelter cove, along with the rest of the island. Something tourism leaders here say goes hand in hand with the holiday.

“When it comes to numbers our expectations are always high, we’re always at a full capacity weekend and that held true this year,” Charlie Clark, VP of Communications, HHI said.

The island and its beaches swamped, even through inflation.

“We’re seeing those folks not only coming but they’re paying, they’re paying more to be here. Average daily room rate is up considerably and people want to gather.”

To counteract that, Birdie James had a sale, which they say customers really responded to.

“It was a lot of fun. We got a lot of locals in but also a lot of tourists, so it was really good to see the different types of people that came in.”

For the island as a whole, Clark says they’re starting to see travel trends get back to normal.

“We see that ramp up in spring, we see that very busy summer which usually peaks on the July 4th weekend, and then we see the summer start to just stay steady and then we start to go back down in the fall. We’re starting to see that normalcy return.”

She says especially right now that’s impressive because people aren’t being deterred by high gas prices or air travel troubles. Specifically, saying the tourism industry here hasn’t seen the negative impacts many other places have.

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