The continued presence of traditional water-dependent businesses in coastal communities ultimately depends on economic sustainability which is impacted by availability of natural resources (e.g., fish, sweetgrass), consumer demand, marketing capacity, infrastructure costs, and coastal real estate value. This proposed project will evaluate and enhance the sustainability of traditional coastal-dependent businesses by informing stakeholders about results of supply and tourist demand analysis and potential business linkages and through regionally based small-business training.
The objectives will be to (1) identify and characterize the supply of traditional coastal-dependent businesses on the South Carolina coast, and evaluate economic sustainability or decline, (2) identify and evaluate linkages between traditional coastal-dependent businesses and tourism-recreation industries in the Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Beaufort-Hilton Head regions, (3) analyze tourist demand for traditional coastal-dependent businesses on the South Carolina coast, and (4) design and deliver a research-based small business training module to enhance traditional coastal dependent business sustainability.