Myrtle vs. Virginia? One beach's ad riles another

VIRGINIA BEACH

Myrtle vs. Virginia.

The two Beach cities have long been bookends for mid-Atlantic travel, but the southernmost resort has drawn a line in the sand.

Myrtle Beach's latest marketing campaign touts its ocean strand as "The Ideal Alternative to Virginia Beach Vacations." The slogan is an unusually aggressive step in travel advertising that's put Virginia Beach flacks in a less-than-summery mood.

The claim that South Carolina's Myrtle pairs better with Beach than Virginia is an affront to what one local official called the "unspoken courtesy in this industry."

Thou shalt not attack another tourist town.

"Thinking about a Virginia Beach vacation?" reads a Web page from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. "Allow us to offer a wonderful alternative that's more relaxing, has more thrills and is easier on your wallet."

Jim Ricketts, director of Virginia Beach's Convention and Visitors Bureau, calls the comments "unethical, unfair and frankly beneath the dignity of a major resort."

Chuck Applebach, the bureau's vice president of marketing and strategic partnerships, said city officials first noticed the chamber's Web site earlier this year.

"For people who still believe in ethics in advertising," he said, "it's something that's not done."

The Virginia Beach references were quickly removed then, so little happened. They reappeared online recently, although they do not appear to be part of any other Myrtle Beach marketing materials.

Ricketts penned a terse letter to Myrtle Beach leaders and copied the director of South Carolina's tourism office.

"You know you're in deep trouble - or maybe just plain desperate - when your vacation destination stoops to directly attacking another nearby destination," Ricketts wrote on May 2, later adding, "I must officially protest this treatment."

The letter asked Myrtle Beach officials to remove the "offensive language and spirit" from the chamber's Web site.

Myrtle Beach chamber officials declined to talk about the issue Wednesday. The group's director, Brad Dean, was en route to the state capital and could not be reached. A chamber representative said only Dean could answer questions.

Mark Kruea, a spokesman for Myrtle Beach, said officials there are aware of Ricketts' letter but have no plans to respond.

"The chamber controls the chamber's Web site," Kruea said. "I've not heard of any discussion between the city and the chamber about the outcome of all of this."

There's not much else the city can do. Legally, Ricketts has no options. And Virginia Beach won't pay to study what, if any, effect the Myrtle Beach slogans will have because Ricketts said it's negligible.

Councilman John Uhrin, whose day job is Oceanfront hotelier, takes the comments as a compliment of sorts.

"Whenever someone like big Myrtle Beach is directly mentioning Virginia Beach, that kind of lets us know we're doing something right," Uhrin said. "If they think enough of you to mention you by name, then that's not necessarily always bad."

Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com