Conference working to expand Black voices in South Carolina’s tourism industry – Live 5 News

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The South Carolina African American Tourism Conference is returning to encourage more Black participation in the state’s tourism industry.
This weekend’s conference in Charleston will offer workshops and resources designed to attract more of the 25% of the state’s population the U.S. Census identifies as Black in the state to take part in tourism, a major economic driver for the Palmetto State.
One of the people who has used those resources in the past is Kendra Williams, who says she’s a big fan of history.
“History really gives you context to life, to situations, environment,” she said. “I moved to South Carolina 25 years ago, and as I came in and started meeting people, learning different parts of history. And as the years passed, I started recognizing that people who were sharing stories were getting older, and I thought other people in the community knew things. But when I started sharing what I was being told, no one knew the stories. And I thought that was a real shame, and that it needed to be shared. It needed to be told.”
So she had the idea to keep those stories alive, especially Black history, by opening her own walking tour company. But she didn’t quite know where to start.
Four years ago, she went to the Annual South Carolina African American Tourism Conference that was being held in Charleston.
“It covered marketing. It covered funding and financing,” she said. ”But the portion of it that was focused on African American tourism and why, where the hole was and the need for people to fill in that category, and so it clicked for me. It said, ‘Yeah, OK, yes, you have something people will be interested in and you will be filling a niche and it’s needed.’”
The following year, Williams filed for her business license and now owns Big Tours Black History in Greenville.
It’s an encouraging move for organizers with the South Carolina African American Tourism Conference that’s returning to Charleston this weekend.
“[The conference] just has to do with those who have an interest in African Americans’ participation in the tourism sector. It doesn’t mean it’s only for one race or another race,” Victoria Boynton Moore, who is preparing for her third year returning as a digital media panelist, said. “It’s just about developing, maybe, aspects that have not been as easily available to tap into some other resources of support to some of the best practices and the strategies.”
But with Black people accounting for a quarter of the state’s population, to what extent are Black communities involved in helping shape the tourism industry’s trajectory?
Conference organizers hope this weekend’s workshops offer them resources and inspire others from across the state to also launch into tourism leadership.
“There’s kind of from what I can see this year, like two tracks: there’s a track that’s really focused on learning about like [accommodations] tax grants for tourism-related businesses and like loans,” Boynton Moore said. “And I also see there’s this marketing and AI track of how these businesses and services and cultural groups can reach their audiences.”
Organizers say the goal is inclusion and to bring even more voices and contributions to South Carolina’s tourism table.
“I think that there’s plenty of tables and there’s plenty of room and if we want to offer into the tourism sector, we certainly are worthy to be there,” Boynton Moore said. “I am just one of those who says a rising tide lifts all boats, and if we can consider those who don’t have boats and if we can consider those who are building rafts and you know—there’s so much interconnectivity.”
This year’s South Carolina African American Tourism Conference is this Saturday at 9 a.m. at the College of Charleston’s Beatty Center, located at 5 Liberty St.
Click here to register.
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