We’ve made it well known that we dislike the new Clemson-colored license plates being issued to all South Carolinians starting next year. But, as the Hilton Head Island Packet notes, there may be one upside to the otherwise undesirable tags.

Across the bottom of the plate is the Web address for the state’s new tourism site, www.travel2SC.com. The idea is a simple, and we hope effective way, to remind people that South Carolina is a great place to visit. Even the most successful vacation destination areas can’t afford to rest on their laurels. They must keep their names front and center and their images polished to continue capturing vacationers’ interest.

The Web address on the license plate is a small, but telling sign of the state’s increasing recognition of the importance of tourism, our No. 1 industry. This year’s state budget includes $26 million for: statewide tourism promotion ($10 million); destination specific marketing ($10 million); and product development ($6 million). All of it is new money or significant increases in spending over last year.

That’s a big step toward realizing the industry’s full potential in South Carolina. A report released during the annual Governor’s Conference on Travel and Tourism earlier this year estimated the industry pumped $16 billion into the state economy in 2005 and accounted directly for more than 118,000 jobs. [Island Packet]

We suppose it will make it a little easier to screw the new plates into back of our vehicles knowing it may benefit S.C. tourism, but they could have put the website on any design.