The Santee Welcome Center is now being managed by the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, a move which has been touted as a creative cost-saving measure by some and a "slap in the face" by others.

The center on southbound Interstate 95 near Santee is one of South Carolina's nine welcome centers. The welcome centers, located on the state's interstates and one major U.S. route, are operated by the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

In addition to being a place to stop and relax, the centers are hubs of information and complimentary services for travelers. The staff helps plan itineraries, make reservations and provide information on road and weather conditions.

State budget cuts, however, had forced PRT to close each of the nine welcome centers two days a weeks. Marion Edmonds, PRT communications director, said an agreement between the department and the Charleston Area Convention & Visitor's Bureau has since allowed the department to reopen each of its welcome centers seven days a week.

Under the lease agreement, PRT has agreed to have the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau manage the Santee Welcome Center in exchange for a $195,000 grant which will give the state the funds it needs to operate its welcome centers at full schedule. The lease agreement will fund the length of PRT fiscal year which runs July 1-June 30. The welcome centers are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and are only closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Thanksgiving.

"When the budget got cut 30 percent over the course of the year, we had to close the welcome centers two days a week. That was not something we wanted to do because they're really important in helping tourists ... and are a real economic value to the state," Edmonds said. "With this arrangement and grant ... it's a big benefit for the state as a whole and our various regions."

"This is a real creative way for both Charleston and the state to gain by getting those centers back open again," he said.

Not everyone agrees with the arrangement, however, including David Coleman, president of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce. Coleman said the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau would negatively impact businesses and ultimately amount to less promotion of Orangeburg and surrounding counties' tourism and recreational offerings.

"It's a big loss for the community along I-95. I just don't know what's going to happen, but (Santee Welcome Center Manager) Laverne Jamison and staff have always done a great job, and I know they'll continue to do a great job for Charleston County as well," Coleman said.

St. Matthews resident Pat Williams, who owns Lone Star Barbecue & Mercantile in Santee, said he had only heard rumors that the Santee Welcome Center was in the "process of being leased through a Charleston entity." Now that the decision has been made, Williams said he has some concerns.

"I just think that this whole area is sort of being sold down the river, or being slapped in the face with not being in the loop to help with this major decision in our already struggling tourist industry. I think that a lot of people in our region that have golf courses, restaurants, camp grounds, tourist attractions and tourist businesses, who depend on recreation and tourism, are very upset," Williams said.

"We need a little bit of a push to get us over the hurdle to be bigger players than we are. To lease a state facility in the heart of our region to an outside entity is not going to promote us," Williams said. He said other management options should have been explored "with the hopes of having our region directly involved with the management of the center in partnership with another area, or maybe taking the whole center over itself."

"From the information I heard, Charleston said if (PRT) closed it, they would come up and man it. It would be hard pressed for Santee to be able to afford it," said Shot Shuler, former manager of the Santee Cooper Resort.

Shuler said having the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau manage the center would be better than not having the center at all. He said with the presence of Santee Cooper Counties Promotion Commission, there should be minimal impact to the Santee Cooper region.

"It depends on how proactive the Charleston people will be, ... but there will be some regional material there. There's more than just the coast and the beach. We have a lot of tourism here within the state. I feel like the impact is going to be hotels, motels and stuff down the road in St. George and Walterboro and down to Hardeeville," Shuler said.

Mary Shriner, executive director of the Santee Cooper Counties Promotion Commission which operates its own Santee-based visitor's center, said she is afraid some hotels/motels in Dorchester County will lose some patronage. She doesn't want the Santee Welcome Center to ultimately turn into a "Charleston Visitor's Center."

"The only positive light to the (Charleston entity) taking over it now is that it's going to allow all visitor centers in the state to be open seven days a week, which is really, really important," she said.

Edmonds said the agreement with the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau will only be continued if "everybody is happy" at the end of PRT's fiscal year.

"Being a state agency and with state budgets working as they are, we do have some restrictions on how long we can do arrangements. It's a brand new approach. We'll be looking at it carefully to see how it works for the state and regions in the state. ... We'll go from there," Edmonds said.

Helen Hill, executive director of the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the bureau's overall objective is to be able to keep the state's nine welcome centers open to bolster South Carolina's tourism industry. She said she does not anticipate any changes in the promotion of the areas surrounding the Santee Welcome Center. The same full-time staff will be on site and part-time staff who were previously cut will be rehired, she said.

"There was a chance that they were going to close this center, so we thought it would be good to keep something good going. If that center closed, we'd be in big trouble. We feel very positive. Consistency of staff is key in making sure that we meet the same needs," Hill said.

Statewide and regional brochures will be available in the center, along with "additional things that we can promote as not-for-profit," such as the promotion of the Heritage Corridor system, she said. Hill said local concerns over whether individual business brochures will continue to be placed in the Santee Welcome Center will be addressed as well.

"We hadn't gotten that far. I don't anticipate any changes, but ... we haven't gotten to that level of detail yet. If anyone has any concerns, I hope that they will call me and talk with me. We want nothing but good to come from this. We want everyone to continue to have the maximum amount of promotions," Hill said.

Hill can be contacted at the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau at 843-853-8000.

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T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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