Less than two weeks after this website published a report on the Palmetto State’s ho-hum tourism season – including “official” data which showed South Carolina lagging behind the rest of the nation – Gov. Nikki Haley’s Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT) has removed much of this information from the internet.
SCPRT previously displayed several years worth of monthly tourism reports on its website – data highlighting statewide occupancy rates and revenue per available room (i.e. RevPAR, a key tourism metric). The reports – compiled by Smith Travel Research – compared South Carolina’s performance against data from the Southeastern region of the country as well from as the rest of the United States.
This week? All but one of these reports had been removed from the SCPRT website.
Ah, transparency …
So where did the data go? Who knows … maybe we’ll have to consult the Haley administration’s emails (assuming those haven’t been deleted, too).
Sad …
This is your data, South Carolina. You paid for it. Just because it doesn’t tell a good story for our state doesn’t mean it should be deleted. Of course this is South Carolina … which ranks dead last in citizen access to public information.
For those of you keeping score at home, South Carolina’s RevPAR for the first six months of 2013 stands at $51.09 – which represents a 4.7 percent increase when compared to the first six months of 2012. Nationally, RevPAR is up by 5.6 percent over the same period – from $64.09 last year to $67.69 this year. The state’s occupancy rate was 57.9 percent (below the national average of 61.8 percent).
By comparison, in 2007 South Carolina’s annual occupancy rate was 58.8 percent and its RevPAR was $51.31.
Data for July was supposed to be released this week, although at this point it’s unclear whether the information will ever be made public.
9 comments
Release of the data probably wasn’t approved by the Minister of Propaganda. The General Secretary concluded it didn’t adhere to the party line: “It’s a great day in South Carolina!”
FOIA request it if you’re so curious.
This website disappeared a story about blacks being recruited to run for Harry Ott’s seat…what happened there?
No surprise here. Information control is the mark of an authoritarian regime.
Why is the government involved in trying to help tourism-related businesses (hotels, restaurants, etc.) get customers? Aren’t private businesses supposed to to get their own customers?
Rather than worrying about the availability of data from SCPRT, you should question the need for its very existence.
Hell, if we are going to use public funds to help private businesses get customers, why stop at tourism? Why not start a government program to help market dry cleaners in North Augusta and car dealers in Rock Hill? I also heard that there’s a pawn shop in Dillon that could use some help.
Winston.
I thought the naacp boycott was supposed to be lip zipped
I wonder if the tourists saw the information on Myrtle Beach being the most polluted beach on the East Coast? And I am sure that is not on the SC Tourism data base either.
This highlight by Mr. Folks is a classic example of how public information is NOT proactive. Good follow-up…