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COLUMBIA (WACH, AP) -- Tourism in the Carolinas is expected to continue a solid recovery this year from the Great Recession.

Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce president Brad Dean says that while the recovery has been slow, tourism has been a bright spot for the economy.

One of the reasons for the rebound is due to business travel.

"When the economy was having trouble, the first thing businesses do is cut down their travel expenses," explains Ric Luber, CEO of the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism.  "It's the easy thing to cut, so that affects hotels overall, but we're starting to see a lift in that."

Travel means a combined $39 billion to the economies of the two states.

In North Carolina, hotel occupancy rates were up 7 percent statewide through last November, compared with the same period in 2009.

During the same period, hotel occupancy in South Carolina was up 6.7 percent -- ahead of the national figure of 5.7 percent.

"We're dealing with a lot more tourists that are coming from closer in and as the market improves we hope to bring more of those people in," says Luber.

"We've been excited over the last couple months.  We've seen things start trending up and that's exciting for both leisure travelers, meetings travelers and individual travelers," adds Tony Malizia, Director of Sales, Sheraton, Main Street in Columbia.

Malizia credits the influx of business on conventions and sporting events held in Columbia over the past several months.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)