CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - As students head back to school, tourism officials in South Carolina say it was a solid summer season. But the state has not quite recovered from the Great Recession.
Tourism is up from last year. And officials say the recovery will be helped by publicity from the PGA Championship held earlier this month at Kiawah Island.
Duane Parrish heads the State Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. He says the golf tournament was televised worldwide, including in places such as China and India. Both nations have a large, emerging middle class with the resources to travel.
Parrish says it may be some time before tourism reaches levels seen before the recession, and he says there is still uneasiness about the economy.
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