On the coast, the area is predominantly involved in tourism and resorts with beaches, amusement parks, shopping, fishing, and golf. The area has become a major retirement center for the U.S., in part from its low cost of living and its many golf courses. The center of the Grand Strand is Myrtle Beach.
Florence, originally founded as a railroad center is a small, but growing center of production of pharmaceuticals, and other light industry. It is also known as a center of medical and dental care. The Pee Dee Region also produces paper, steel, and recreational vehicles.
The area is served by three commercial broadcast television stations, WBTW, WPDE, and WFXB the first two with twin studios at Florence and Myrtle Beach, as well as an educational television station substation, WHMC-TV, in Conway, South Carolina. A Midlands station WIS-TV also reaches the Pee Dee area, but, will be supplanted by a different NBC affiliate, WMBF-TV.
Daily newspapers include The Sun News of Myrtle Beach and The Morning News of Florence. The Georgetown Times is published five times per week. The region is also served by the following weekly newspapers: the Marlboro Herald Advocate of Bennettsville, the Lee County Observer of Bishopville, The Cheraw Chronicle of Cheraw, The Link of Cheraw, the Horry Independent of Conway, the News and Press of Darlington, The Dillon Herald of Dillon, The Messenger of Hartsville, The Weekly Observer of Hemingway, The News of Kingstree, the Lake City News & Post of Lake City, the Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise of Marion, the Myrtle Beach Herald of Myrtle Beach, the North Myrtle Beach Times of North Myrtle Beach, the Pageland Progressive Journal of Pageland, and the Coastal Observer of Pawleys Island.
The Pee Dee Region is similar in boundaries to the original Williamsburg Township.
