In a press conference held yesterday by the City of Myrtle Beach, the mayor stated, “So, until we realize that people need to reinvest and invest in the right types of businesses in Myrtle Beach, we are not going to change the clientele.“
Was Mayor Bethune suggesting that tourists should stay away from visiting the City of Myrtle Beach until it gets the downtown entirely re-developed? If so, this could take decades. It appears that while the City of Myrtle Beach has put a lid on capitalism, they have not been able to put a lid on crime.
We will explain this in our coming article this afternoon.
Concerns for Tourists Visiting Myrtle Beach
Said Bethune, “We are working very hard to invest in our city. The Chamber invests a lot of money in our city, as do many business owners and property owners.”
Bethune finished by concluding about the Saturday shooting, “So until we realize that people need to reinvest and invest in the right types of businesses in Myrtle Beach, we are not going to change the clientele.“
“When we have motels offering rooms that are subpar rooms, nothing that you would stay in, for $45 to $50 a night, that attracts the wrong people,” Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune added.
MyrtleBeachSC News viewed some four star hotel prices in May on Expedia this morning. The Bay View Resort and “Fifth and Ocean” are charging from $51 to $64 per night.
Perhaps these 4 star hotels are charging less, because so many tourists prefer to stay in the Cities of North Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, Garden City Beach and Pawley’s Island.
Perhaps the decades long, crime issues downtown have caused a supply and demand issue for these hotels in downtown Myrtle Beach.
May Pricing at Bay View Resort $51 – 4 star hotel
May Pricing at Fifth and Ocean $64 – 4 star hotel
Most recent reviews for “Fifth and Ocean”
As to this comment made by Mayor Bethune: “When we have businesses that are selling sexually graphic, improper T shirts and merchandise, drug paraphernalia, that does not welcome the right people.”
We checked Ocean Boulevard Beachwear stores this morning. There were no sexually graphic T shirts, nor drug paraphernalia.
However, we did find this T Shirt for sale in the City of North Myrtle Beach just off main street.
North Myrtle Beach has never had a mass shooting.
The Mayor inferred that policing Ocean Boulevard is hard because 20 million tourists go down there.
The Grand Strand accommodated only 17.5 million tourists in 2024. We asked our 500,000 tourists, who visit other nearby beach towns, if they went to Ocean Boulevard in downtown Myrtle Beach. Click the embed below to see all responses. Below the embed is a sample of those comments.
While the Mayor did a full out assault on Myrtle Beach hotels and Myrtle Beach merchants yesterday, the largest questions tourists and locals are concerned about remain unanswered.
- Why are 3 police officers on leave?
- Were any tourists shot by friendly police fire?
- How many of the 12 people injured were shot?
- Was this a gang related shooting?
- Is the one tourist listed as critically injured on “life support” or simply in the Intensive Care Unit?
Leaving these questions unanswered creates uncertainty among tourists wanting to make vacation plans.
Listen to her remarks here:
Both the Mayor and Police Chief Amy Prock can be heard in the video above saying that the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division will be releasing details, at the end of SLED’s investigation.
However, SC residents know that SLED can take as long as years to complete an investigation.
Neither tourists, businesses, nor city residents can wait that long. The Mayor’s delays in providing details only adds more drama to the situation.
Local residents and merchants are now asking, Is Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune bad for Tourism and business?
Local News Via - MyrtleBeachSC.com
