Tybee Island posted another summer tourism sellout.
Bed tax revenue rose 8.2 percent for the months of June, July and August 2012 over the same period last year and beat the previous record summer — 2010 — by 7.2 percent, according to statistics provided by Visit Savannah. The island’s hotels, inns and vacation rentals were near full occupancy for the Memorial Day to Labor Day span, tourism leaders said.
The “bustling” summer season is a credit to a combination of relatively mild weather, favorable water conditions and Tybee’s ever-broadening profile, due in large part to the beach community’s proximity to Savannah.
“Our increased exposure is a product of Savannah’s increased exposure,” said Amy Gaster, president of the Tybee Island Tourism Council. “We as a tourism council have made great strides in marketing Tybee, but the truth is the more attention Savannah gets, the more we are known as Savannah’s beach.”
Savannah tourism is on pace to top last year’s record returns, with hotel stays up 6 percent through the end of September. Many Tybee summer family vacationers cite the opportunity to “experience two destinations in one” and the appeal of the historic district and the beach across multiple generations for their visit, said Tybee Vacation Rentals Sales and Marketing Director Katrina Murray.
The economic recovery and high gas prices also should be credited for the increased business. The majority of Tybee’s visitors hail from near-drive markets, like Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and eastern Tennessee, places where the Tybee Island Tourism Council focuses its marketing efforts.
And once visitors vacationed at Tybee, “they liked it so much that they kept coming back and told their family and friends they ought to check out this little place called Tybee Island,” said Mayor Jason Buelterman.
“Tybee is unique in that we have managed to retain a small-town aura that has been in many ways destroyed at other beach communities,” Buelterman said. “I talk to people who come to Tybee for vacation and find they are amazed a place like this still exists.”
Tybee’s quaintness will limit its future summer growth as the island “runs out of room,” Gaster said. The space issues are why the island’s tourism leaders have focused on boosting business during the shoulder seasons in the spring and fall through festivals and events, such as the Tybee Island Pirate Festival held earlier this month.
“We have to work to stretch the season as much as possible,” Gaster said. “The last three years we’ve had roughly the same visitor numbers in June and July. It’s the other months where we’re seeing the greatest growth and where we have the greatest potential.”
The year-round efforts have proved successful. The bed tax revenue showed a 12.32 percent gain for the year in 2011 over 2010. Revenues are up another 18.5 percent through the end of August 2012 versus the same period in 2011.