Hurricane Dorian cost Charleston’s visitor industry an estimated $58.6 million

Hurricane Dorian and the evacuation ahead of it cost the Charleston region’s visitor industry an estimated $58.6 million, according to a College of Charleston analysis completed Wednesday, The Post and Courier reported.

That is about half the $111.3 million the college’s Office of Tourism Analysis estimated the region lost last September to Hurricane Florence. The estimates combine hotel occupancy on the affected days with average daily visitor spending.

Timing helped, office director Daniel Guttentag told the newspaper. “The week after Labor Day is always somewhat soft,” he said. With fewer visitors in town to begin with, the evacuation took a smaller bite.

Gov. Henry McMaster’s evacuation order for coastal zones took effect at noon Sept. 2, Labor Day. He lifted it for Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Georgetown and Horry counties on Friday, Sept. 6, according to the governor’s office.

Hotel occupancy fell below 40% on Monday and Tuesday of last week, Guttentag said, then climbed back above 40% from Wednesday on, before the storm reached the state’s southern coast. After Florence, occupancy stayed below 40% for seven straight days.

Attractions lost days of ticket sales. Patriots Point, the S.C. Aquarium and the National Park Service’s Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie and Charles Pinckney sites closed Sept. 3. Patriots Point stayed closed for seven days. In the same stretch last year, the museum sold almost 3,500 tickets worth about $70,000, spokesman Chris Hauff said.

Charleston International Airport closed at 3 p.m. Sept. 4, when the Federal Aviation Administration shut down the control tower, and reopened at 7 a.m. Sept. 6, after about 116 departing flights were canceled, the newspaper reported. The State Ports Authority closed its Charleston and Georgetown terminals Sept. 4 and 5.

Dorian, a Category 3 hurricane with winds near 115 mph, moved just off the South Carolina coast on Sept. 4 and 5, the National Weather Service said.

The storm marked the fifth straight year that hurricanes or flooding hurt South Carolina tourism. Storms in the previous four years cost the state about $321 million in direct visitor spending, according to the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.