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COLUMBIA -- Thousands of visitors are in the Capital City despite a long-standing boycott.  The big group is bringing with it big bucks for the city. 

Business is sizzling at Columbia's "Five Guys" restaurant, thanks to the thousands of visitors in the Capital City for a three-day religious conference called "The Great Gathering."

"We've definitely seen an increase today," said restaurant manager Parker Dickerson.  "We are seeing a lot more foot traffic."

An estimated 10,000 visitors from around the country are in Columbia, despite a nearly decade-old NAACP tourism boycott.

"Tourism is a billion dollar industry in this community," said Midlands Authority Tourism President Ric Luber.

Every year thousands join forces with the NAACP to rally against the confederate flag flying on state house grounds.  AME church leaders claim state NAACP President, Lonnie Randolph will attend the conference despite his group's tourism boycott.

Boycott or not, economic officials are happy to have visitors in the Capital City.

"It's certainly great to have a gathering here," said Luber.  "It's hundreds of thousands of dollars, probably in the neighborhood of a million dollars."