Film & Motion Pictures
The tourism industry in Savannah has exploded. A total of 6.35 million people visited here in 2005, and they spent almost $1.4 billion and supported more than 22,000 jobs while doing so.
The upsurge in Savannah's popularity as a destination for vacationers can be traced to several factors, including local marketing efforts and the charismatic effect of the city being the setting for the best-selling book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” and for several big-budget motion pictures.
While the majority of Savannah's visitors hail from the South and Northeast, a significant number have come from Hollywood in recent years. Among them are box-office draws such as Matt Damon, Will Smith and Charlize Theron, the stars of “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” which was filmed here in late 1999 and directed by Robert Redford.
Other blockbuster movie talents who have trod Savannah's stage since the mid-1990s are Keanu Reeves, Cate Blanchet, Greg Kinnear and Hilary Swank of “The Gift;” John Travolta and James Woods of “The General's Daughter”; Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock of “Forces of Nature”; Kevin Spacey, John Cusack and Jude Law of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” which was directed by Clint Eastwood; and Kenneth Branagh, Daryl Hannah and Robert Duvall of “The Gingerbread Man,” directed by Robert Altman.
Savannah's lodging sector increased room supply by 7 percent in 2006, with visitors staying at 132 properties.
