Tourism officials: Golden Isles visitor numbers up in 2015

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) - Tourism officials in the Golden Isles region along Georgia's coast are reporting record numbers.

They say the lodging sector grew by 12 percent in 2015.

Several monthly records were set in terms of visitors coming to the area, said Scott McQuade, president and CEO of the Golden Isles Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"Ten of the 12 months in the year were all time records," he told The Brunswick News (http://bit.ly/1mv7v1T).

One of the organization's major moments was opening a new welcome center along Beachview Drive on St. Simons Island, McQuade said.

"We opened the new welcome center to adequately service visitors and introduce the entire area to visitors. The positive feedback from both residents and visitors alike on the new welcome center has been overwhelming," he said. "To hear first-time visitors open the doors and exclaim 'wow, this is beautiful' has not only been rewarding but also has made a wonderful first impression."

Filming for the Hollywood movie "Live By Night" also provided a significant boost to the area's tourism in 2015, McQuade said.

In addition to the cast and crew spending money at businesses, McQuade says that there were 8,000 hotel room nights over the four month period the project was in town.

For McQuade, landing the movie was a huge success and the culmination of countless hours of work.

"The 'Live by Night' film was worked on for over 2 1/2 years until we finally secured the project," he said. "Upon landing the film, we pulled our partners together to expand the film's footprint significantly to create a much greater economic impact."