Pawleys Island / Georgetown & Horry Counties, SC
I’ve Visited Myrtle Beach For Over 20 Years. These Drinks Surprise Me (Forbes)
Summary: A Forbes travel piece argues that Myrtle Beach’s drinking culture has matured beyond frozen beach cocktails, pointing to a downtown Brazilian bar, a brewery in a former five-and-dime, and a Little River distillery sourcing local grain. The article tracks the shift from Ocean Boulevard’s souvenir cups to craft cachaça, local beer, and small-batch bourbon, framing the Grand Strand as a place where repeat visitors now seek inland and neighborhood experiences. It also notes the region’s 18.2 million visitors in 2024, two-thirds of whom were returning, suggesting a market for depth over novelty.
Why it matters: For coastal South Carolina, this signals a structural shift in tourist spending: the same visitors who once anchored to the Boardwalk are now driving to Little River, Conway, and Murrells Inlet, which could reshape how municipalities and businesses plan for seasonality, infrastructure, and land use.
Context: Myrtle Beach’s economy has long depended on high-volume, low-differentiation beach tourism. The rise of craft distilleries, breweries, and neighborhood bars mirrors a broader coastal trend where repeat visitors demand authenticity, but it also strains small-town roads, parking, and housing as tourism dollars spread inland.
"The Myrtle Beach area welcomed 18.2 million visitors in 2024, and roughly two-thirds had been there before, according to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau. I suspect many of those returning visitors have learned what I did. The most obvious attractions are only the beginning." — FORBES
Commentary: The piece is a travel feature, but its real signal is the dispersal of tourist capital beyond the beachfront. If repeat visitors are the majority, then the economic center of gravity shifts toward downtown districts and inland towns like Conway, which could ease pressure on the shoreline but create new friction in places with limited infrastructure. The mention of a hidden speakeasy and locally sourced bourbon is less about cocktails than about a maturing market that rewards differentiation—something smaller operators should watch as national chains follow the same playbook.
Date: July 20, 2026 03:24 PM ET
URL: https://forbes.com/sites/noelburgess/2026/07/20/myrtle-beach-drinks-beyond-boardwalk
AI Sentiment Score: Negative (50%)
AI Credibility Score: 10.0/10 — High
Scores and text generated by AI analysis of the source article indicated.Post ID: be0953c8