Adam Benson and Hannah Huffstickler
40 minutes ago
HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) — As hundreds of thousands of visitors return home after their Fourth of July weekend on the Grand Strand, local businesses say they’ve seen a huge increase in sales.
Restaurants and fireworks vendors have particularly benefited from the windfall, and Myrtle Beach International Airport was busy Sunday as people left a place that U.S. News and World Report named as one of the nation’s top Independence Day destinations.
“I mean, it’s basically tripled what I had last week in one day,” said Lewis Broome, owner of Black Pearl Fireworks. “I could make my whole year in two days and pay my astronomical rent.”
Broome said on average, people spend about $500 per purchase.
At Mimosa’s, one of the area’s most popular brunch restaurants, owner Gentiana Tubaku said she knows how to be ready for this year’s crowds.
“We prepared extra food and drinks. We already knew that last year we were very busy. So we had to prepare for that,” Tubaku said.
The city’s airport was also bustling on Sunday, with authorities saying they expected about 50,000 people to leave over the next few days.
AAA predicts that about 5.7 million people will travel to work this holiday weekend, a 7% increase over 2023 figures.
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Hannah Huffstickler is a multimedia journalist at News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2024 after graduating from Coastal Carolina University in December 2023. Follow Hannah on Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram. You can also learn more about her work here.
