THE WORKS Podcast
The Works podcast is hosted by William Floyd, the Executive Director of the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) and Chair of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development (CCWD). The purpose of this podcast is to provide a platform for short, impactful conversations with CCWD partners, workforce leaders, industry experts, and public officials who help strengthen our state’s economy and labor force.
THE WORKS Podcast
Episode 10: Hospitality and Tourism with Duane Parrish
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In this episode, South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) Executive Director and Coordinating Council for Workforce Development (CCWD) Chair William Floyd sits down with Duane Parrish, Director of South Carolina Parks, Recreation & Tourism (PRT), for a deep dive into one of the state’s most powerful economic engines: hospitality and tourism.
Parrish reflects on how his very first job at a Columbia hotel sparked a lifelong passion for hospitality and tourism and how the industry today supports more than 240,000 jobs and contributes over $30 billion in economic impact across South Carolina. He continues by sharing how early work experiences help young people build confidence, why soft skills like communication and problem-solving remain essential, and how statewide efforts such as the Find Your Future website and collaboration among the CCWD are creating clear pathways for jobseekers.
Parrish also highlights the wide range of career opportunities in tourism, from hotels, restaurants, and attractions to film production, state parks, aquariums, and outdoor recreation, showing just how many ways individuals can build a fulfilling career in this growing field.
For additional information about career pathways, workforce programs, and employment resources across South Carolina, please visit https://findyourfuture.sc.gov
Connect with Find Your Future SC on social media for updates, resources, and workforce initiatives:
Instagram: @fyf_sc
Twitter: @FYFSC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FindYourFutureSC/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/find-your-future-sc/
YouTube: @findyourfuturesc
Follow along to stay informed about opportunities supporting South Carolina’s current and future workforce.
Welcome to the Works Podcast. My name is William Floyd. I'm the executive director of the Department of Employment and Workforce and the chairperson of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development. Today's guest is Dwayne Parrish. Duane is a fellow CCWD member and a member of the Governor's Cabinet along with me. He helps one of our biggest industries, the hospitality and tourism industry, come and learn about how important it is for South Carolina. Duane, it is so great to have you here on the podcast today. You know, you're a fellow cabinet member and you're a fellow member of the coordinating council for workforce development. Yes. But let me throw you a curveball. Sure. You haven't been that all your life. Where did you start? Where was where or what did you do as your first job?
SPEAKER_02I started as a young teenager, um, working at a best western hotel at the airport here in Columbia that is no longer there, or it is something else now. Um, as a uh at that time they called me uh yard man. And basically I, like it sounds, worked on landscaping. I loved working in a hotel, meeting people from all over the world. It was just, I was over the top. And side note, they gave me a jacket that had a best western patch on one side, right? And a patch with my name on the other side. I wanted to wait to school. It was so cool, I thought. But I thought better of it. But but I thought, what I fell in love with hotels at an early age.
SPEAKER_03Doesn't get much better than that, right? No, it does not at all. Well, as you know, in the CCWD, we emphasize some different strategies for our employers in South Carolina. One of them is internships or youth employment because of the lessons learned when you're younger, you know, you can learn and earn at the same time.
unknownSure.
SPEAKER_03What are some of the lessons you learned in that first job?
SPEAKER_02I think the lesson I learned in the first job is that you do something you love, regardless of whatever it is, be excited about it, get it going to work when you get in the shower. I mean, I I am every day. I look forward to it. And I've tried to be that way with every job, and I have. And I've always said, if you're not, maybe you should start looking for something else. But if you're good at it and you like it and you enjoy it, you have an opportunity to move up in just about every industry, but particularly the chores of industry. And I said, but internships, you can get into those, and you have somebody mentoring you who can kind of walk you through things that otherwise you may go down the wrong path, can walk you through and keep you on the straight path, and just, you know, open up an opportunity for you to move up in many cases.
SPEAKER_03Great lessons learned early and applied now. Yes, yes. Well, you mentioned what you do you're doing, yeah. Hospitality and tourism, including parks, recreation, tourism for your agency. Is how important is parks, recreation, and tourism for South Carolina?
SPEAKER_02Sure, I'll start with tourism. It's one of the largest industries in the state. We employ a little over 240,000 people, which is about 10% of our workforce. Um, big number. It is um, we have a financial impact of over $30 billion in terms of economic impact for the state. You know, if visitors pay more taxes probably than anyone on a daily basis, you pay sales tax, you pay accommodation tax, you pay hospitality tax and a restaurant, generates a tremendous amount, almost $3 billion in state and local taxes generated by visitors. And so it's an important part of the state's economy. I've always thought tourism is just an essential part of life. And if you look at post-COVID and the growth of outdoor recreation, um, state parks have come into that. We have now have 50 state parks that are open.
SPEAKER_0350.
SPEAKER_0250. We start we have opened three of them in the last few years, and they are essential today, um, more so than ever. As we become more connected to our cell phones, the need to disconnect becomes greater. And state parks are a place you can do that, whether it be hiking, biking, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, golf, whatever the case may be. Of those 50, 50 state park and the people in the state, we have over 700 employees in state parks in the C. Yeah, almost the majority of those are in state parks. We have some working out welcome centers as well. And then we have the Film Commission, which also you think about some of the movies, movies that are filmed here, go way back. We um offer an incentive for production companies to come here. Outer Banks is probably the most uh visible, and that that and righteous gemstones on HBO and Netflix are probably the most two most uh visible in the last few years, but film both of which have been filmed in Charleston. And so we have a lot of different things within the agency and a lot of opportunities for employment, whether you want to go into the film industry, whether you want to go into state parks. And I say state parks, that can include national parks and the like, or whether you want to go into tourism, which is a huge industry with a lot of opportunity. And uh last thing I'll say about this, so tourism employees, we can employ anyone. Right. I mean, we can start you in any job, find out what you love to do. We have somebody there that can teach you that and open up an opportunity for you, and you're very visible in tourism. I mean, and so I think it's an opportunity for people to move up and a chance for people to uh really enjoy what they do.
SPEAKER_03So is there a great job growth in the hospitality and tourism industry? In other words, do you need more people?
SPEAKER_02We always need more people. I mean, people always hear the word you hear the word burger flippers, and that's really not a fair assessment. I mean, sure, somebody's gonna flip burgers, obviously, but if you're a good burger flipper, you're gonna you can you have an opportunity to do more. I mean, and I'm a great example. I used to pull weeds and cut grass. I later started my own hotel management development company, which is what I was doing when Governor Haley appointed me as the director of South Carolina PRT. And so I've been very blessed in my life, but there is an opportunity. If you want to do it, you have the drive to do it, and it's there for you an opportunity, and you find a mentor, find someone who will help you. Um, the opportunity is there. Enjoy the people you meet. If you enjoy meeting people, that is tourism, whether you work in a restaurant, an attraction, or a hotel or a park, you're going to meet people from all over. And so if you enjoy doing that and you hear their stories and you're good at customer service and you can make those people happy, chances are good you're going to succeed. But the opportunities are there for people to move up, whether you can start at a hotel and become a general manager just like I did.
SPEAKER_03Great potential there. You know, learning by doing in your industry, you're teaching or the employers are teaching essential skills. You know, you're learning on the job how to engage in customer service and problem solve things that you could either continue doing for the rest of your career or at that particular hotel or park, or you can apply them elsewhere. So it's a great learning ground that you have there.
SPEAKER_02It is, it is. Learning those soft skills of learning to communicate, to problem solve in real time, those things can be taught if you don't know. It helps if you already know them, but they can be taught. And you start to figure those things out. The best thing you can do as a hospitality employee at any whether you're hotel restaurants, is put yourself in the guest customer's shoes. It's a simple concept. But if you do that most of the time, you'll be successful in guest service.
SPEAKER_03Great advice. Well, we welcome your advice now, as well as once a quarter and in between through the coordinating council for workforce development, where we come together to talk about strategic workforce development and tackle the really big problems and the state and the opportunities of workforce. And you and your team are an incredible asset for us on the council. One of the things that you and your team are doing on the council involves helping us address the unified state plans goals, one of which is awareness. You guys are the experts when it comes to awareness. So talk to us a little bit about the ways to achieve awareness of the incredible opportunities in South Carolina, be it workforce or in between.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Well, I think one of the biggest successes we have was creating brand awareness. And that's true of anything. It's just like in Discover South Carolina, we have Undiscovered South Carolina, some of the brand campaigns that we do. And then Find Your Future was the brand we Flock and Raleigh came up with that we're now pushing out there for the individuals who seek that out that don't know anything about the tourism, don't know where to start. We want to be able to say, okay, here's our website, find your future, and go find your path forward with that.
SPEAKER_03Well, on the CCWD, um, there are lots of good things going on there from a strategic workforce development perspective. What are some of your favorite topics or projects?
SPEAKER_02Putting ourselves in the shoes of the potential employee, what are you looking for? And so we've come up with a newsletter to communicate both internally and external. But for the person looking for a job, the other is the calendar. You go into the calendar, whether it be job fairs, career fairs, internships, all those things. We can really create a world in there, a one-stop shop, if you will, for the potential person who wants to work in the hospitality industry, manufacturing, whatever the case may be, for them to go a little deeper and find out more about what's available and where it's available.
SPEAKER_03Because so many good things are happening in South Carolina that the challenge is to put them all together so that they have that one stop. Exactly. All right. So imagine you're one of those uh young people that type into this and connect with the Find Your Future website, and they pull up tourism and hospitality. What kind of opportunities are available to them through tourism and hospitality industry? Well, my first challenge is imagine myself as a young person.
SPEAKER_02But but let's go with that. And they'll see a tremendous number of opportunities. Think of it, I'm coming from the hotel side. I mean, just within the hotel, there can be opportunities from front desk to housekeeping to maintenance to the restaurant to the bar to the kitchen. That's just in a hotel. But then you think beyond hotels of attractions, restaurants. I mean, I think about nightlife. There's so many different opportunities. But like think of the Columbia Riverbank Zoo. There's a zoo keeper, things like that. You think about the South Carolina Aquarium. Um, if you like marine wildlife, what a great place to be. Again, find your future of what you like and what you enjoy. There's so much there to do in those opportunities. Tourism promotion, some of the things we do, like within state, state parks, national parks, there's an opportunity for everybody out there, literally in our state, and we have a lot of outdoor recreation in South Carolina. One of the things we're known for is beaches and golf. Those are both outdoor. Right. And so outdoor recreation is a big part of our state, and there's opportunities for everybody in that.
SPEAKER_03You know, our governor, our boss, yes, often says South Carolina is a special state. And I think part of the reason why we are so special are our lakes, our rivers, our beaches, our mountains, and our people in between very much so. And your agency is so invaluable to connecting our citizens with all those opportunities. It's got to be fulfilling for you.
SPEAKER_02It is very much so. I honestly, when I came to work at PRT, they told me how many people work in the hospital. I was like, wow, is it that many? And I knew it was a lot, but I wasn't sure. And of course, we have a diverse state. If you think about Greenville and the upstate, basically the Blue Ridge Mountains, a you know, once uh textile-based town, has now reformed itself in many ways, and it's now a lot of tourism is a big part of their economy. And you go through the Midlands, all the variety of things here, and you go to the coast. I mean, the coast, two-thirds of our tourism comes from the coast. And you think about places like Myrtle Beach, Charleston Hilton Hill, but it's also places like Buford, Bluffton, and Georgetown, just along the coast. And then everything in between, what we, a lot of what we call undiscovered South Carolina. But you know, and in some of those places, it's that even the state park becomes sort of the tourism product, if you will. But there's something to do for everybody somewhere in South Carolina.
SPEAKER_03Well, we've learned a lot today about tourism and hospitality in South Carolina, and we are so appreciative of you and your leadership, you and your team at PRT, what you do each and every day for our citizens and for our visitors to the state. It's an incredible economic engine that connects people with these wonderful uh assets we have in South Carolina. So thank you for what you do, and thank you for your service on the CCWD and spending time with us today. I'm blessed to be here, blessed to be here with you today, and blessed to be in this position.
SPEAKER_01To leave you with some helpful labor market information. Here's your LMI Minute.
SPEAKER_00Hi, I'm Dr. Brian Grady, Assistant Executive Director for Labor Market Information at View. Welcome to LMI Minute, where I share some parting data from today's discussion to help you better understand our workforce. Today you heard from Dwayne Parrish, member of the CCWD and director of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. As you probably know, these sectors are crucially economic development of our state, and LMI reports data on them regularly. The federal government tracks leisure and hospitality as one of ten super sectors that make up the private sector economy. This includes two components. One, arts, entertainment, and recreation, and two, a combination of food services. The Quarterly Census of Employment Wages, which we produce alongside the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, reported 16,208 businesses and 279,655 jobs state money in leisure and hospitality as of December 2025. About 75% of these jobs are in what the feds call food services and drinking places, restaurants, farmers, and the like. These employers pay about $8 billion per year in wages to their workers. Among the state's counties, the largest concentration of leisure and hospitality firms and workers are internal states, with 2,171 employers hiring over 41,000 people. However, when we look at things on a per capita basis, the picture shifts a bit. Compared to the national number, every county has a location portion of 2.2. What this means is that there are 2.2 times as many workers in leisure and hospitality compared to an average county there somewhere nationwide. Buford and Georgetown are close behind at 2.1. These counties, of course, include the beach vacation destinations of Transstrand and the Low Country that help from so many visitors to our state. That's all for now. Until next time, thanks for joining us.