Charleston Tourism Hit a Record $14.35 BILLION in 2025

Charleston County · Charleston County Council
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Charleston County Council approved the first of three readings of the proposed 2026 Transportation Sales Tax ordinance, setting the stage for a potential November referendum. The measure would continue the existing 2004 half-cent transportation sales tax once current collections conclude around 2027, generating an estimated $4.25 billion over 25 years. A public hearing is scheduled for June 11, 2026 at 6:30 p.m., where residents may weigh in before further readings are considered.

City of Charleston · City Council
🏙️ King Street BID reports $2 billion economic asset status and nearly 60 new businesses
Amy Barrett, executive director of the King Street Business Improvement District, presented the annual report showing King Street generates over $100 million in tax revenue annually with tax value per acre six times that of the broader peninsula. The nine-member ambassador program collected 5,400 pounds of litter and assisted nearly 19,000 visitors in the first quarter of 2026 alone, while overall vacancy on King Street remains below 5%. The BID highlighted $2.5 billion in emerging investment in the northern corridor around Courier Square and the Lowcountry Lowline, and noted active partnerships with Spoleto, the Peninsula Plan relaunch, and the Bloomberg tourism management plan.

City of Charleston · City Council
🏘️ Trophy Lakes restrictive covenant updated to allow pickleball and additional recreation on Johns Island
Council gave final approval and third reading ratification to an amendment to the restrictive covenants governing Trophy Lakes, a man-made lake complex north of Maybank Highway on Johns Island. The existing 40-year-old covenant had limited the site to water sports only; the amendment opens the door for additional recreational uses such as pickleball and paddleball courts, none of which would be located near residential areas. Councilmember McBride, who worked closely with the owner, called it good news for Johns Island recreation options.

City of Charleston · Committee on Traffic and Transportation
🚧 Sam Rittenberg Boulevard complete streets redesign reaches 30% design milestone
Stantec presented a 30% design update on the Sam Rittenberg Boulevard redesign covering segments two and three between SC-61 and Charlestown Drive, incorporating wider buffered multi-use paths, a road diet on the six-lane southern segment, and new signalized intersections at key access points. Over 100 online comments and 54 in-person sign-ins at the public meeting showed general community support. The city will pursue state and federal grants for a design-build contract once the 30% plan set and cost estimate are finalized.

City of Charleston · Committee on Traffic and Transportation
🚦 Developer-funded traffic signal approved for Maybank Highway and Southwick Drive on Johns Island
The committee unanimously approved an MOU requiring a 62-unit PUD developer to fund installation of a new four-leg traffic signal at Maybank Highway and Southwick Drive, connecting two large residential neighborhoods on either side of the corridor. The developer will also contribute $10,000 toward improvements at the adjacent existing Maybank and Southwick intersection, which may be converted to three-quarter access. Staff estimated signal installation is roughly two and a half years away, and a detailed intersection rendering will be required through the TRC process so the Johns Island community understands what is coming.

City of Charleston · Committee on Ways and Means
🌊 City commits $3.7M toward Battery seawall extension design and Army Corps cost-share
The committee approved three related items directing previously authorized funds to pre-construction engineering and design for the western and eastern alignments of the Battery seawall extension. The city's 35% cost-share payment of $2.9 million goes to the Army Corps of Engineers, while $800,000 goes to engineering firm Black & Veatch for design work covering the Battery extension and tidal and inland flooding systems. The items had already cleared a special Public Works committee meeting unanimously.

Tourism brought $14.35 billion into the Charleston region in 2025. That's a new record, up 2.3% from 2024. The figures come from the College of Charleston's Office of Tourism Analysis (OTA), which presented its annual report at a recent Explore Charleston media luncheon.

Here's the short version: the number of visitors barely budged, but the ones who came spent a lot more.

The average adult visitor spent $1,212 per trip in 2025. That's up from $1,105 in 2024, a 9.7% jump. The number of overnight visitors only ticked up 0.3%, to 7.91 million.

The OTA calls this an ongoing pattern. Charleston is pulling in higher-value visitors instead of just chasing bigger crowds. The report says the 2025 results show progress toward getting more benefit for the community without simply piling on more tourists.

The five-year picture tells the same story. Tourism's economic impact has climbed from $10.62 billion in 2021 to $14.35 billion in 2025. The visitor count has barely moved over that same stretch, from 7.23 million to 7.91 million.

The OTA breaks down what the average adult visitor spent per trip:

The OTA estimates tourism was responsible for about 23.6% of every dollar spent in the region in 2025. Almost a quarter of all sales.

The industry employed 55,530 people across Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties. That's a record. These are leisure and hospitality jobs as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the figure averages part-time and full-time work over the year.

Wages tied to tourism totaled $4.80 billion in 2025. That's down a bit from $4.92 billion in 2024. The OTA figure includes both wages paid directly to tourism workers and wages at businesses that supply the industry.

Charleston International Airport handled 6,341,145 passengers in 2025. New record. Passenger traffic has gone up every year since 2021, when the airport saw 4,180,928 passengers. The OTA ties the air travel growth to the same trend of higher-spending visitors.

A few hotel terms worth knowing:

In 2025:

Hotels sold 4.84 million room nights in 2025, a little less than the 4.89 million sold in 2024. The region had 18,989 hotel rooms total, broken down like this:

A note from the OTA: the inventory numbers for prior years got minor adjustments in early 2026. The agency reviewed which properties belonged in its dataset, added some that had been missed, and removed some that had closed or converted to other uses.

Combined sales from hotels and short-term rentals (vacation rentals, beach houses, bed and breakfasts) reached $1.61 billion in 2025, up from $1.55 billion. The OTA estimates this number using South Carolina's 2% accommodation tax.

The top states sending visitors to Charleston (outside South Carolina): North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and New Jersey.

The top metro areas: Charlotte, Atlanta, New York, Raleigh, Orlando, Philadelphia, Washington, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Greensboro.

The OTA notes that those city names actually cover the wider metro region around each one. For example, "Raleigh" includes Raleigh, Durham, and Cary, and "Tampa" includes St. Petersburg and Sarasota.

The report lists the things visitors said drew them here: history and historic sites, food and restaurants, tours, beaches and waterfront, festivals and events, attractions, shopping, and outdoor recreation.

OTA Director Dr. Daniel Guttentag presented the 2025 results and offered some context on what's happening nationally.

He said international travel to the U.S. dropped more than 5% in 2025 and started 2026 slowly. He said consumer sentiment is at a historically low level. And he said gas prices were spiking.

So why is Charleston doing well while a lot of other markets aren't? Guttentag pointed to three reasons:

He said most travel markets saw hotel RevPAR drop in 2025. The exception he mentioned was Asheville, which had a higher 2025 number mainly because its 2024 numbers had been knocked down by hurricane damage.

On new supply, he mentioned several hotels opened in 2025, more opened in early 2026, one renovation wrapped up in early 2026, and another is expected to finish before the end of this year.

For the first quarter of 2026, he said:

Someone in the room asked how RevPAR can go up if occupancy stays flat. Guttentag explained that RevPAR multiplies occupancy by room price, so if hotels are charging more per night, RevPAR rises even when the number of rooms filled stays about the same.

Another question: does the OTA track what visitors are interested in (outdoor, food, history, etc.)? Guttentag said yes, the OTA runs an ongoing visitor survey covering history, beaches, shopping, food, and other categories. He said the year-over-year changes haven't been dramatic.

Charleston tourism just set a record at $14.35 billion. Visitor numbers barely moved, but each visitor spent about 10% more than the year before. The airport set a passenger record. Hotels charged more per night and brought in more revenue. Tourism accounted for almost a quarter of all sales in the region and supported a record 55,530 jobs.

The OTA's read on all of it: Charleston is attracting higher-value visitors, not just more visitors. And the early numbers from 2026 suggest the same pattern is continuing.

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