CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - The spring tourism is getting under way in South Carolina.
While the $14 billion industry is expecting a better year than 2011, those predictions are shadowed by the specter of an expected rise in gas prices to $4 a gallon.
Tom Crosby of AAA Carolinas motor club predicts that there's about an 80 percent chance gas will hit $4 by April. And that's when people may start changing their vacation plans.
Crosby says people may decide not to travel as far or to stay as long.
Brad Dean of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce says while gas remains a relatively modest part of a vacation trip, people are more sensitive to changes in gas prices because they pass gas stations every day going to and from work.
