The next time you find yourself crawling around a square behind one of those horse-drawn carriages or buses filled with tourists, take a deep breath.
Smile.
Wave.
They may be frustratingly slow at times, but those tourists – some 13 million last year alone – are a major reason Savannah’s economy fared better than most in the last decade.
It’s the proverbial domino effect.
When tourism is strong, hotel and motel room receipts go up. More visitors mean passenger numbers at the airport soar and, when that happens, car rentals go up, adding more sales tax revenue to the city’s coffers.
More visitors mean more restaurant meals and drinks served. Alcohol sales tax receipts go up, as do the number of people needed to serve.
In fact, with some 24,000 jobs, the leisure and hospitality sector has passed education, health care and government in the number of total jobs generated in the Savannah MSA of Chatham, Bryan and Effingham counties, according to Armstrong State University economist Michael Toma.
Toma’s quarterly Coastal Empire Economic Monitor tracks 13 economic indicators in the Savannah MSA to provide a continuously updated snapshot of the health of the area economy.
While all sectors continue to get healthier, the tourism and hospitality industry has “very nearly hit a grand slam” in the first half of 2014, the economist said.
Hotel and motel room receipts were up 16 percent year-over-year, auto rental sales taxes were up 23 percent and alcoholic beverage sales taxes jumped 9 percent.
Passenger numbers at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport were up almost 20 percent through June and show no signs of letting up.
Year-to-date, including July, passenger numbers were just shy of the 1.1 million mark.
“Passenger traffic at Savannah/Hilton Head International is reaching levels we haven’t seen since 2008,” said Lori Lynah, director of marketing and air service development for the airport.
But the domino doesn’t stop there.
“In addition, airport parking and our restaurants, shops and rental car tenants are all experiencing double digit growth in 2014,” she said.