When Discover South Carolina, the state’s tourism agency, announced in April that it had signed a five-year, $12.5 million marketing agreement to become an official tourism sponsor of the PGA Tour, it did so with a strategy that is surprisingly unique: The Palmetto State was going to use sports to market itself as a place to come for sports.
Naturally, the plan specifically targets golf, which provided $1.5 billion in wages and income and generated $370 million in federal, state and local taxes in 2021, according to a study by the state’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. South Carolina imposes a 5% admissions tax on sporting events and amusement options. Golf course green fees and club membership generated $18.3 million, accounting for 44% of that pool for the state.
The media campaign went active in about a dozen U.S. markets, primarily targeting golfers in the Southeast and Northeast, and in large destinations with direct flights into South Carolina, said SCPRT Director Duane Parrish.
“Our top feeder markets are currently Atlanta and NYC, and we know Texans like to come,” he said. “Plus, we’ll have two nationally televised PGA events starting next year. The guy in Topeka probably doesn’t know where Myrtle Beach [where a new tournament debuts next season] is, or where Hilton Head Island [home to the annual RBC Heritage] is. Now they will.”
The top golf destinations in the state were Myrtle Beach (49%) and Hilton Head Island (31%), according to SCPRT data.
A PGA Tour fan is 36% more likely to take three-plus domestic vacation trips a year, a key selling point for the league, according to an MRI Simmons Sports Fan Study conducted in July and provided to SBJ by the tour. Additionally, 29% take trips in the U.S. that last at least five nights and nearly two-thirds spend at least $5,000 a trip.
Although Parrish said there is no plan to market anything other than golf, other sports properties and destinations are latching on to the initiative.
“You’ve got the beaches and with Myrtle Beach Sports Center,” he said, referring to the $12.4 million, 100,000-square-foot indoor sports facility that opened in 2015 adjacent to the city’s convention center, “even if golf is just the filler while you are here for your kid’s soccer tournament, the hotels are all really happy when you stay another day.”
