SC has 2 of the 10 cities most stressed by tourism in the US, new survey shows. Here’s how

Charleston leads the nation in cities where locals feel most stressed by tourism, a nationwide survey found.

That’s not news to city leaders.

In fact, they’ve spent the past year working with a consultant to update the city’s tourism management plan. They’ve received the report and the next step is asking residents for their ideas to best cope with the influx of visitors, estimated at 7.8 million a year.

Tourism is a two-edged sword. It is a major economic driver, with some 55,000 jobs on the Charleston peninsula alone, but it also brings crowded streets and sidewalks, tours of every kind and odd occurrences like people going onto porches of historic private homes to take photos.

Mental health provider AMFM hired Cherry Data Signals to survey residents of transitional tourist towns across the U.S. to see how visitors affect stress, daily routines, and overall wellbeing.

“The findings suggest that while many residents recognize the economic importance of tourism, the emotional cost is harder to ignore,” AMFM said in a news release. “More than 6 in 10 residents said they feel crowded out of their own town at least sometimes during peak season, while 46% said they have felt burned out by living somewhere other people visit for vacation.”

Of Charleston, AMFM said, “Visitors come for cobblestone streets, carriage tours, restaurants, waterfront views, architecture, ghost tours, shopping and the sense of walking through a city preserved for admiration. For residents, that attention can feel intrusive as well as profitable, especially when daily life overlaps with crowded sidewalks, tour routes, short-term rentals and packed downtown streets.”

No. 4 on the list was Myrtle Beach, which the surveys said “has one of the most intense visitor economies in the Southeast, with beaches, boardwalk attractions, golf, hotels, restaurants, nightlife, shopping, family entertainment and summer traffic all layered into a single coastal strip.”

Each year, between 17 million to 20 million people visit Myrtle Beach, which has a year-round population of less than 40,000.

“For locals, the mental strain can come from the sheer volume of movement - cars, crowds, noise, event weekends and a pace of life that shifts sharply when tourism peaks,” AMFM said.

In 1978, Charleston was the first city to adopt a tourism management plan. It was updated in 2015.

The City of Charleston is calling its update a Responsible Tourism Initiative to balance the needs of everyone, but Mayor William S. Cogswell Jr. said the core principle is residents first.

The plan will also ensure that city data is used to guide policy, infrastructure, and projects and encourage people to visit places beyond the peninsula like West Ashley.

The city also wants to broaden its enforcement and create new revenue.

Already, a director of tourism, Natalie Murdy, has been hired and new taxes on hotels and short-term rentals have been added and expected to bring in $2 million a year.

Bloomberg Associates, which compiled the new tourism plan, found tourism added $14 billion to the economy in 2024, up 7% from the prior year, despite only a modest 1.2% growth in visitors.

“The downtown peninsula—though home to only 37,064 residents—generates the bulk of the city’s tourism revenue and hosts about 100,000 people each day, including visitors, hospitality staff, students, and medical workers,” Bloomberg said. “Residents report that Charleston’s vibrancy is increasingly being overshadowed by congestion, degraded livability, and overstressed infrastructure. Enforcement, transit, parking, deferred maintenance, and budgeting all lag behind the pace of tourism growth.”

Bloomberg also said, “Rising property values and growing tourism demand have increased pressure on long-standing neighborhoods. Many historic Black communities and multigenerational residents have experienced rising affordability concerns, while current zoning and development approaches have offered only limited support in maintaining community stability.”

The other cities on the AMFM top 10 list of stressful places are:

2. Destin, Florida

3. Hanalei, Hawaii

5. Key West, Florida

6. St. Augustine, Florida

7. Las Vegas, Nevada

8. Waikiki, Hawaii

9. Gatlinburg, Tennessee

10. Long Beach Island, New Jersey

Hilton Head came in at No. 40.

The survey found traffic was the biggest source of tourism stress.

“Traffic may sound like a practical problem, but in tourist towns it can become an emotional one,” AMFM said. “When a 10-minute errand becomes a 40-minute ordeal, or when locals have to plan their day around bridge traffic, beach turnover, event weekends, or visitor arrival times, the stress becomes cumulative.”

“What stands out in this research is that the issue is not simply inconvenience. Over time, the pressure of living in a place that is constantly being consumed as a vacation product can affect people’s stress levels, mood, and sense of control over their own community,” says Anand Meta, executive director at AMFM.

“Tourism can bring huge economic benefits, and many residents clearly recognize that. But tourists also need to think seriously about the wellbeing of locals, especially in destinations where the busiest months make people feel crowded out of their own hometown.”