South Carolina flew the battle flag of the Confederacy from its capital building until July of 2015. Taking down that symbol of slavery, treason, and oppression was lauded throughout the country, and it looks like doing so has helped the state in a variety of ways.
For one, while racism is not by any means gone in that state or the country as a whole, it the removal of the Confederate flag improved the state’s image, especially in the minds of black tourists.
According to the University of South Carolina’s SmartState Center of Economic Excellence in Tourism even a 5 percent increase in tourism among African-Americans would generate about $118 million in revenue for the state, which it could certainly use.
There are a number of sites in the state which are important to black history and which can serve as focal points of tourism, but until the last year or so, felt like they were off-limits to a lot of black tourists.
In fact, even though the event was the motivation for removal of the Confederate flag, the state as a whole may have felt unsafe for African-Americans after the mass shooting at the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, in which self-professed white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine parishioners.
Fears of facing discrimination not felt at home, perhaps heightened by being in a strange place, actually kept people from visiting, but removing the Confederate flag seems to have allayed some of those fears.
“We need to recognize that the fear of racial discrimination is real,” said SmartState Center Director Simon Hudson, “As tourism providers, we need to better understand travelers from a diverse array of backgrounds and be able to cater to their particular interests and needs.”
Some of the money raised through an increase in African-American tourism—or tourism in general—could go toward supporting historical sites that some black tourists might want to visit, which are often underfunded and in need of repairs, updated technology, or in low-income neighborhoods that tourists are unlikely to visit.
Researchers at USC are aware that if the state wants to encourage tourism and generate revenue from it, they need to help preserve the state’s historical sites, and perhaps give emphasis to those that don’t celebrate slavery or the confederacy.