Myrtle Beach Hotels and Resorts up and down the Myrtle Beach, S.C. coast experienced a soft Spring 2008 rental season. Many smaller hotels in Myrtle Beach are also nervous about the upcoming summer. With gas prices climbing daily, and low consumer confidence, the Myrtle Beach area chamber of commerce and most tourism related businesses are banking on the possibility that consumers will do what elected officials have predicted – purchase a last minute vacation with this year’s May tax rebate check.

"We're hoping that's the case," said Ferrell Schmidt, owner of the Carnival Motor Inn on 25th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach. "We're hoping that as people start to see the checks ... they'll look at that as windfall money. The vacation they may not have taken may come about at that point."

Most Americans will get a rebate check as follows - $600 per person, or $1,200 per couple, plus $300 per child younger than 17. These refunds are based on income levels.

Myrtle Beach Hotels typically contribute $5 billion in tourism when coupled with restaurants, shopping, and attractions. Many area resorts saw traffic down by as much as 38% during the March 23rd Easter Weekend. The Sun News, a local newspaper, reported, “Hotel and lodging business was down by 16 percent from March 9 through April 19 this year compared with the same period last year, according to a survey from Coastal Carolina University's Brittain Center for Resort Tourism.”

"March and April have been somewhat of a disappointment," said Bob Barenberg, general manager at Kingston Plantation. "A lot of it's weather driven, and you can really tell. If the weather forecast is good, man, you get an influx of business and it's terrific."

Dan Wenzel, Marketing Director for Myrtle-Beach.com confirmed these remarks. “Hotel business across the board has been soft this Spring," Wenzel said. “Hit hardest are small and dated hotels in Myrtle Beach that have not adopted new condo hotel concepts.” “People simply have more information at their disposal now, and, through the internet and are making choices based on consumer rated reviews.”

With $3.53 per gallon and rising, a top concern for tourists are gas prices.

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce reported in a survey last week that 71% of families likely to travel in the next year stated that higher fuel costs would affect or have affected their Myrtle Beach vacation plans. This number compares to a historic 25 percent to 35 percent in past chamber's surveys. "We've never seen it this high," chamber President Brad Dean declared.

Oceanfront Myrtle Beach Hotels are certainly feeling the squeeze. "We're not as busy as we were before the gas prices went up," said Deborah Gowans, owner of the Royal Inn in downtown Myrtle Beach. Vacationers "could go to so many other beaches."

Schmidt said, “When added up, the extra buck a gallon can be $2,000 for the year. That's a vacation! "It's going to affect the middle- to lower-middle-income people the hardest." The chamber, in its most recent e-mail to more than 1 million people, targeted the rebate with an inclusion titled "Earn a Great Vacation Return on Your Tax Refund or Economic Stimulus Rebate Check."

Don Schunk, a research economist with Coastal Carolina University, stated, "A lot of people are of the opinion that saving and paying off debt with this check is sort of the right thing to do." "The right answer, when you're taking a survey, is to say you're going to do something real rational." “That's not always the way things work out”, he said. "One of the things that keeps happening over and over again in the U.S. economy is consumers figure out a way to do the things they want to do," he said. "This tax rebate check feeds in perfectly to that. I think it's going to really help households take the trips they want to take this summer."

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Rebate Facts The rebate, passed by Congress in February, is available to people who filed taxes this year. Checks will be $600 per person, or $1,200 per couple, plus $300 per child younger than 17, for people who made more than $3,000 but less than $75,000, or $150,000 for a couple. People with higher incomes receive a reduced amount or nothing at all. People who receive Social Security and disabled veterans, who normally do not file tax returns, must file them this year to receive the rebate. Source: IRS

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The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce surveyed travelers from outside the Carolinas to see what factors affected or may affect their travel plans this year.
Which of these factors have impacted or may affect your 2008 travel plans?
Rising fuel prices | 71 percent
Decrease in disposable Income | 49 percent
Time availability | 42 percent
Non-credit-card debt | 26 percent
Credit card debt | 25 percent
Weather concerns | 20 percent
Unemployment | 17 percent
For those that indicated fuel prices are a concern, they were asked how this would affect their plans:
Shorten the duration of travel | 31 percent
Stay closer to home | 51 percent
Spend less on food | 25 percent
Spend less on attractions | 41 percent
Spend less on shopping | 49 percent