The 4th of July holiday weekend brought hundreds of thousands of people to the Grand Strand, but the occupancy numbers were down compared to last year.

Director for Coastal Carolina University's Center for Economic and Community Development, Gary Loftus, says the occupancy rate was down three percent. However, he says people should not get hung up on that statistic.

"What we look at is the revenue for available rooms, and that is up," says Loftus. "Occupancy may be down, but we are getting more money which is a better tax revenue for the area."

Loftus says with about 100,000 hotel rooms along the Grand Strand and nearly 95 percent occupancy for this 4th of July holiday at least 250,000 people vacationed at the beach, and though occupancy for hotels were down, vacation rental properties were up.

"Those were up two percent, and that means larger places with larger groups. You couldn't rent a home in Garden City this past weekend. Vacation rental properties were near 97% occupancy."

"Our overflow parking was full and people starting parking in front of our campground. Out of all the years I've been here, I've never seen that," says Ocean Lakes Family Campground Vice President and GM Lance Thompson. Oceans Lakes manages 300 vacation rental properties and 2600 mobile home sites in Myrtle Beach.

Thompson says the campground is always full for the holiday, but he's never seen the volume of people like he did this past weekend. "There was a waiting list for golf cart rentals. Our revenue was up we were very pleased."

Island Vista Hotel Owner, Steve Chapman, says while numbers may have been down for Grand Strand hotels, his place was completely booked. "I've spoken to a lot of other owners and I think Myrtle Beach as a whole was very busy," says Chapman.

He says one indication he uses to gauge the crowds are complaints. "There were so many people complaining about how the roads were backed up. We heard traffic was back up to Conway and on Highway 22. The Fourth is a busy time, but this year was definitely busy."