Host Welcome | Explore Charleston and the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority

Transcript

Helen Hill:Hi, everybody. Welcome to Charleston. I have to tell you, we are so honored to have you here in our community. I hope that you've been having some fun and maybe eating some good food. And my friends from Breeze, can y'all testify to some good food? It was great. You know, this conference comes at a really important moment for aviation. Fortunately, travel has remained strong. Communities like Charleston, like you all, are carefully thinking about infrastructure modernization, workforce challenges, international connectivity, and really preparing for the future. I think that's why gatherings like this are so important. One of the questions I get asked often is, how has the Charleston community navigated this path to the current success that we're enjoying? in? I really, as I reflect on it, it's really 3 things. The first is we really believe that tourism is the first step in economic development, because you know you never relocated a company if you didn't come as a visitor first. Our economy today is more diverse and dynamic than ever before. You're in a beautiful ballroom in this beautiful hotel that really started that renaissance in 1986. Because when I was little, this was a sketchy lot that your parents wouldn't let you ride your bicycle this way. It's amazing what this one facility did to change. As we look at how Charleston has changed with this diverse and dynamic economy we have today, we have aerospace. Y'all might have seen some planes on the way in. My favorite thing to do is to look at those tails and try to guess what airline that might be because we don't have all of those. Delta. Yet. So we also have the automotive cluster, and y'all, we're building Volvos, we're building Sprinter Mercedes vans. It's absolutely amazing. So we're one of the few places in the world that can say we build airplanes and cars. The interesting thing is right now, pacing above the national average, we're bringing in 42 new residents every day. And one of the fun facts is that the median age of people is actually going down. That would not be because of me, but because of other people moving here. One of the things that we know is that the diverse economy has made the difference, and we're looking toward the future for that. Number 2, in advertising and marketing, y'all know that's my job at Explore Charleston, is to sell Charleston. We decided to leave that moonlight and magnolias narrative of the Old South behind. And to be who we really were. You know, everybody wishes for a more perfect past, and all the history in Charleston is not beautiful, but it is our history, and we found that visitors today are really looking for that authentic story. You know, as we approach the 250th anniversary of our country, we have found some new incredible stories to tell. Most people think about Charleston and they think about the first shots of the Civil War, but we have a deep, entwined history with the founding of our country. Just recently, a news story came out that there's a beautiful building called the Old Exchange at the end of Broad Street that you might see. Y'all have heard about that Boston Tea Party where they threw the tea into the harbor? Well, in Charleston, we took the tea, but we hid it behind a false wall in in the Old Exchange. Took it out after the war and sold it, made money. So I thought that was pretty cool. So if you think about those kind of stories, those are the ones that make someone decide, gosh, there's something there and we want to go to Charleston, South Carolina. And we've been rewarded for that. Our visitors have voted us the number one city in the readers of Condé Nast Traveler and Southern Living. And this past year, we had the record tourism impact. for fewer people, so bringing high-yield visitors to our community. Okay, reason number 3. The last reason, and probably the most important reason, is we decided to get into the air service development business because we know that aviation depends on great partnership. The partnership that we built in our community between the tourism community, the aviation community, the business community, and all the economic development partners has really made the difference because quite simply, air service supports tourism and tourism supports air service. The Charleston route map has dramatically expanded and we're looking forward to the future. We got a new Concourse C coming with some new gates that you saw in the video, and we know that the opportunity as we continue to— got to bring up the parking, our new parking. Y'all, 51, that's a lot. That's one big parking garage. The best part is we've got a walking path up there. to enjoy a little outdoor, because it's going to have the best views in Charleston. Thank you. Those are really the 3 reasons that we— how we got here today. We also know that we have to be willing to look toward the future and to protect what made us successful in the first place. I think that's what we in aviation are talking about here and answering those questions like, how are we going to continue to build the future responsibly? You know, how are we going to modernize our infrastructure and maintain our global competitiveness? You know, how are we going to keep that connectivity, at the same time make sure that we have economic opportunity for all? And most importantly, how are we going to bring quality of life to our communities? In Charleston, we are ready to answer those challenges. Thank you so much for joining us, and it is such an honor to have you in Charleston. Thank you. Welcome.

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