An informal but powerful influence over our perceptions about the economy is the looking around test.

So a weeklong trip to Hilton Head, one of America’s premier vacation destinations, offered some hopeful signs. It wasn’t DEAD! The last week in February from what the locals told us is either last week of the slow season or the first week of the busy season.

Our resort, the Marriott Barony Beach was perhaps a quarter full, but a car count toward of the end of the week suggested it was trending toward half full. Maybe not quite half, but it was not DEAD. And they filled the pool this week even though the temperature never climbed much beyond 65. That’s a sign of spring and renewal.

It should be noted these are timeshares meaning they are prepaid and people will come despite the tough economy. And many visitors to the resort appeared to be retirees. They have nothing else to do, but not me. I worked half the week. A younger with-children set appeared toward week’s end.

When we arrived Sunday, many of the restaurants were closed. In fact, the island looked like a ghost town except for steady traffic. Hilton Head is traffic light paradise with long red light cycles that infuriate impatient New Englanders like me.

But as the week bore on, the restaurants ranged from half to three quarters full. And the Old South golf course on a Wednesday afternoon was busy.

Another key looking around indicator are the number of real estate “for sale” signs. We saw very few. I suspect some folks are refraining from selling given the market. Regardless, second homes apply considerable financial pressure to someone who just lost their job. None of that here, it would appear.

We took in the timeshare sales presentation in exchange for 10K Marriott points and a getaway trip. Marriott sells multiple tiers of timeshares based on the season, ocean front and the value of the resort itself (Barony Beach is primo, sitting on one of the nicest beaches on the East Coast).

So a week’s timeshare for a nice two BR condo can go for up to $35,000 or higher during prime time (summer). We were steeled not to buy (after all, we were determined twice before and bought anwway), but when my wife jokingly said we might buy one for the ridiculusly low price of $3,000, our sales guy jumped on it said he could pull it off if we bought today.

Three thousand bucks! That was the only suggestion that timeshare sales were in the tank. The season would probably be two weeks in January with the condo located downwind of the dumpster. But plenty of tire kickers were milling about the Marriott sales center. He also told us we could easily sell our ocean front condo and that the massive Barony, the majority of whose condos are not ocean front, was sold out. I’m sure we got the glass half full schpiel, but I found our presenter to be largely credible. What’s more, Marriott sells great timeshare and point system value especially folks who like to travel.

So that’s the good news from Hilton Head. As a friend said to me recently, “there’s an economy our there.”