Tybee Island has record year for hotel/motel taxes
Hotel/motel taxes collections for Tybee Island in 2014 totalled more than $865,000, up more than 19 percent from 2013, and that total marks the strongest year on record, according to Visit Tybee.
“It’s really no surprise that visitation and spending on Tybee are up and so favorably,” said Joseph Marinelli, Visit Savannah president. “Tybee Island is benefitting from a tremendous amount of positive media throughout the region and even nationally. More and more visitors are finding that the Tybee visitor experience is exactly what they are looking for.”
Visit Tybee director Sara Lane said she was pleased to see marketing efforts are making a difference.
“We have terrific partnerships in place with city leadership, the hotels and vacation rentals, restaurants and retailers on the island and that collaboration is showing very impressive results,” Lane said.
Officials say they expect Tybee’s visitation to increase in 2015 after a recently completed beach renourishment initiative that has widened and extended the amount of beach on the island. The new beaches are designed to have a 10-year lifespan.
Herty center part of new research institute
The Herty Advanced Materials Development Center in Savannah, an applied research center administered by Georgia Southern University, announced that it is a founding member of a new national research institute created under the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.
The organization, the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop better composite materials and technologies for rapid deployment within the automotive, wind turbine and compressed gas storage industries.
Partners in the new institute include the Department of Energy and a consortium of 122 companies, nonprofits and universities that will invest more than $250 million to advance the development of low-cost, high-performance composites.
“Lighter, stronger materials are key to increasing energy efficiency and fuel economy,” said Walter Chappas, director of advanced materials at Herty. “Herty has considerable experience in the design and production of composite materials.”
For more information, visit www.herty.com.
Networking event set for Bluffton
The Greater Bluffton Chamber of Commerce will have its first evening networking of 2015 oat 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Longhorn Steakhouse in Tanger Outlet 1.
Cost is $10 for Bluffton Chamber members and $20 for guests
For more information, contact Erin Black at 843-757-1010 or eblack@bluffton
chamberofcommerce.org.