Helen Hill became executive director of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau in September 1989. Two weeks later, Hurricane Hugo came ashore just north of the city.

“I got to work with a lot of great people during an intense time,” she told The Post and Courier in 2013.

Thirty-seven years later, she still runs the bureau, now called Explore Charleston, as its president and CEO. On Oct. 6, ABC News 4 reported that Condé Nast Traveler readers had named Charleston the top city in the United States for the fifth straight year.

“The timing and added visibility of these awards keep the Charleston area top of mind as people make their holiday travel plans and continue looking ahead to 2027,” Hill said, according to the station.

From accounting to tourism

Hill grew up in Charleston and graduated from Ashley Hall. She first wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father, who ran a mortgage company.

“In my second semester at Clemson, I knew accounting wasn’t my thing and I thought about doing something else,” she told the Post and Courier. Looking for a major that would take her credits, she said, “I looked around, and tourism was it.”

She earned a tourism degree in 1985, worked briefly as a concierge at Wild Dunes Resort and joined the bureau in 1986, selling ads for the visitors guide, the newspaper reported. She later became its sales manager for meetings and conventions. At the time, the bureau had five employees and a $750,000 budget.

A bigger operation

Explore Charleston now represents more than 800 member businesses and at least 10 local governments in the tri-county region, according to the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority. The nonprofit reported $32.3 million in revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 2024, according to its IRS Form 990 filing.

Its research, done with the College of Charleston’s Office of Tourism Analysis, put tourism’s economic impact on the region at a record $14.35 billion in 2025, up 2.3% from the year before, ABC News 4 reported in May. The growth came mostly from a 9.7% rise in average visitor spending, while the number of overnight visitors stayed about the same. The report called that a deliberate focus on higher-value visits rather than mass tourism, according to the station.

Trips to Charleston now cost about 21% more than they did in 2021, the station reported.

Not every ranking has gone Charleston’s way. In 2025, Travel + Leisure readers dropped the city to third after 12 straight years at the top, the Charleston City Paper reported. It rose to second in the magazine’s 2026 rankings, behind Santa Fe, New Mexico, according to Travel + Leisure.

“We are honored that the readers of such a highly respected publication continue to recognize the Charleston area’s uniqueness, character and charm,” Hill said then.

Air service

Hill has long argued that flights drive tourism. “For a community to be successful, air service is key,” she told the Post and Courier in 2013. The bureau put marketing money behind Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways when they started Charleston service in 2011 and 2013, the newspaper reported.

She joined the airport authority’s board in 2014 and in 2019 became its first female chair, according to the authority, which credits her with helping recruit carriers including Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska, Allegiant, Frontier, Air Canada, British Airways and BermudAir. The board unanimously re-elected her as chair on Sept. 17.

Her time as chair has included a disputed decision. In January 2020, the board hired Charleston County Council Chairman Elliott Summey as airport CEO without a search. One board member, Henry Fishburne, resigned in protest, and the mayors of Charleston and Mount Pleasant voted no, Charleston’s through a proxy, The Post and Courier reported.

Hill defended the decision. “As a political entity, it is imperative we identify a candidate with a proven track record of collaborating with political entities in the greater Charleston area and beyond,” she wrote in a memo to the board, according to the newspaper. She called the move “quick, but not secret.”

A national seat

In February 2025, the U.S. Travel Association named Hill to its executive board.

“Our industry is at an inflection point, and it is an honor to serve U.S. Travel in this capacity,” she said in the announcement.

After the latest Condé Nast awards, she said tourism money reaches well beyond visitors, helping pay for infrastructure, public safety, education and cultural amenities.

“We’re proud of the recognition the Charleston region receives, and we know these accolades are never something to take for granted,” she said, according to ABC News 4.