In South Carolina Resort, Sending Dead Bodies Home for Becomes a Niche Market.(Originated from The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.)

May 5--Funeral homes along the Grand Strand are making big money sending dead tourists and retirees to their final resting place.

Each year, an estimated 475 bodies are sent out of Horry County for burial, usually in the dead person's hometown. The cost? About $800 per body plus travel expenses for the funeral home.

"It's lucrative for us, and we do it frequently," said Jim Kauffman, director of Goldfinch Funeral Home's beach chapel. "Being in a tourist area, we probably do it more than a regular funeral home."

In most towns, people are buried in the same general area where they lived.

Bob Inman -- president of Inman …