HARDEEVILLE, SC (WTOC) - It's been a little over one year since the South Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation broke ground on a new welcome center at the South Carolina-Georgia State line.  It's one of nine welcome centers in the state, and the second to go under total renovation. Each year, 2.2 million visitors stop in the welcome center, but the old building was more than 30-years-old and in need of some improvements.

The center is called the 'state's front porch,' and with tourism being an $18 billion industry, this welcome center is the first impression for millions of people traveling on I-95. The $4 million project features the latest technology to not only help visitors plan their stay in the Lowcountry, but to also learn more about the places they're stopping in. 

"Before we had the desktop computers, now we actually have handheld tablets that we can reach out and the guests as their needing additional information. We don't have to walk anywhere we have it with us at all time, plus we have tablets mounted on different pods that we have that we work with the guests as their coming into the center," said Gwendolyn Hendley, Manager, Hardeeville Welcome Center. 

This welcome center is directly responsible for more than 2,000 hotel bookings and 500 attraction tickets. It's located at the other end of I-95 in Dillon, SC.

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