Visitors bring about $40 million to the City of Beaufort over the summer

BEAUFORT, Sc. (WTOC) - The City of Beaufort and surrounding areas saw an uptick in tourism this summer.

With summer all wrapped up, official tourism numbers for the City of Beaufort are in. Officials say that visitors brought in tens of millions of dollars to Beaufort over the summer season.

“People love the fact that they can get outside, have access to water, you know, history a prominent role. And of course our outdoor recreation is phenomenal,” said Robb Wells, president and CEO of Visit Beaufort/Port Royal/Sea Islands.

Overall, visitors brought in around $40 million in revenue, with an increase of around 8,000 more accommodations sold than last year. Roughly three quarters of visitors to the area came from out of state.

Those numbers… not just from the city, the Sea Islands also saw visitors.

“What they’re coming to do fits right in our wheelhouse, they wanted to be at the beach, so Fripp Island, Hunting Island, Harbor Island saw a great influx of visitors during the summer, we also saw great performance from our events. Water festival performed very strong, and the economic impact of about seven and a half million from water festival continues for a strong summer. Does that carry forward? We sure hope so,” said Wells.

Fall celebrations kick off this weekend with the Shrimp Festival starting on Friday.

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