Savannah tourism marketing for the weeks after St. Patrick's.
Savannah hotels topped 95% occupancy over St. Patrick's weekend 20261, then slipped to about 65% in July and August2. We help inns, tours, restaurants and venues in the Historic District sell the slower months as well as they sell March.
- 12.9Mvisitors in 2025
- 12months planned ahead
- Directbookings, not clicks
This is a typical Savannah pattern based on the Chamber's April-to-June peak season5, St. Patrick's weekend occupancy above 95%1 and occupancy near 65% in July and August 2026 ahead of the fall event push2.
Tourism marketing in Savannah: fill the summer, own the fall
Tourism marketing in Savannah is mostly about the gap between a busy spring and a slow summer. Savannah's peak season runs April through June5, St. Patrick's weekend pushed hotel occupancy past 95% in 20261, and July and August 2026 fell to about 65%, roughly 5 points below 20252. A Savannah tour company, inn or restaurant that only markets in spring is paying for demand that would have come anyway.
Savannah visitors also come back: 69% are repeat visitors5, so email lists, Google reviews and a strong Google Business Profile do more work in Savannah than in a first-visit market. Visit Savannah is pushing fall with the Savannah Jazz Festival, the Savannah Bananas playoffs, the SEC Women's Volleyball Championship and Savannah Holly-Days2. We build Google Ads, landing pages and email around those dates so your fall and holiday calendar books ahead of time, and we run it from Jacksonville with research on Chatham County, not from a local office.
Twelve months, planned before they arrive.
The events that move Savannah demand and the marketing move for each. Tap an event to see it.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Who visits Savannah and why they keep coming back
Savannah draws a loyal crowd that mixes overnight guests with day-trippers. The city welcomed 12.9 million visitors in 2025, 7.2 million overnight and 5.7 million for the day, with an average stay of 2.8 nights3. About 80% travel for leisure and 20% for business, and 37% of leisure visitors come to see friends or relatives5. Visit Savannah and Chamber sources do not publish a feeder-city breakdown, so for Savannah hospitality marketing we build geographic targeting from your own booking data and Google Ads location reports rather than guessing.
Savannah bookings can come late. Last-minute reservations pushed St. Patrick's 2026 weekend performance past early projections1, so a Savannah inn or tour should keep ads and availability live right up to event week instead of assuming it is sold out. Returning visitors tend to book with places they already know, which makes past-guest email and reviews the cheapest direct channel. Day-trippers decide on the day, so hours, parking notes and menus on your Google Business Profile need to be current every week.
Savannah has 5,146 active short-term rental listings on AirDNA, averaging 59% occupancy and a $309 ADR over the 12 months to August 202610. The City of Savannah caps non-owner-occupied rentals at 20% of parcels per ward in the Downtown and Victorian Historic Districts, and about 40 wards are at the cap and closed to new non-owner-occupied certificates11. Chatham County scheduled a vote on changes to its own short-term rental ordinance for Sept 25, 20267. A permitted rental inside the capped historic wards is scarce, and its listing and direct-booking site should make that location the headline.
Four levers, one Savannah booking curve.
- 01
Local SEO & Google Business Profile
Local SEO in Savannah starts with the squares, the riverfront and the Historic District, where most visitor searches land. We build Google Business Profiles that name the exact neighborhood, list tour meeting points and parking, and keep St. Patrick's and holiday hours current.
- 02
Google Ads for tourism
Google Ads for Savannah tourism should run hardest in the months that need help, not only in March. We move budget from spring into fall and holiday campaigns tied to the Jazz Festival, the Bananas playoffs and Holly-Days.
- 03
Direct-booking websites
A Savannah direct-booking site for an inn, B&B or tour should feel like the place: real photos, clear room or tour details and a booking engine that works on a phone. Because so many visitors return, we add a returning-guest offer that gives them a reason to skip the OTA.
- 04
Seasonal campaigns & email
Seasonal marketing in Savannah runs on two lists: past guests who come back, and people who asked about dates you could not fill. We write a fall and holiday email sequence each summer and a spring sequence before St. Patrick's.
What online travel agency commissions cost you each year.
Booking sites bring guests, and they charge for it on every stay. Moving even part of those bookings to your own website keeps that margin. Enter your numbers.
Commission rates vary by platform and contract. Use the rate on your own statements.
Savannah tourism news worth planning around
- Sep 18, 2026
Savannah hotel occupancy dropped to 65% in July and August 2026, about 5 points below 2025, and tourism officials are counting on a busy fall2.
So what: Fall and holiday demand has to be created, not waited for. Start fall ads and email in late summer, and give guests a dated reason to come: a festival, a game or a holiday event.
- Aug 26, 2025
The Savannah convention center expansion doubled exhibit hall space to 200,000 sq ft and added a 40,000 sq ft ballroom, while hotel RevPAR fell 4.5% in the first half of 2025 as supply grew about 5%6.
So what: More rooms and more meeting space mean more competition and more group business. Restaurants and venues can target planners and attendees; small inns need direct-booking reasons a new chain property cannot match.
- Sep 25, 2026
Chatham County commissioners were set to vote on changes to the county's short-term rental ordinance7.
So what: Rental owners outside city limits should confirm what changed before relaunching ads or listings, and update house rules and FAQ pages to match.
What we’d tell a Savannah hospitality owner over coffee.
Spending held flat while hotel supply grew
Savannah visitor spending was $4.1 billion in 2025, flat with 20244, while about 1,500 hotel rooms across 16 hotels were under construction as of mid-20248. When supply grows faster than spending, Savannah independents need more direct demand of their own, not a bigger share of OTA traffic.
Friends and family are a channel
37% of Savannah's leisure travelers come to see friends or relatives5. Those trips are often shaped by the local host, who picks the restaurant, the tour and sometimes the inn. Savannah businesses can reach them by marketing to Chatham County residents as well as to out-of-town visitors.
The destination is being marketed hard
Savannah's hotel room tax revenue reached $56.2 million in 2024, up 15.6%5, and Visit Savannah works on a budget of about $19 million, more than 90% of it on sales, marketing and personnel9. The demand is being built; your job is to catch it with your own profile, ads and booking page.
Three ways to build organic search
Month-to-month, no long-term contract. Every plan includes technical SEO, on-page optimization, Google Business Profile management, the AEO basics (schema, AI crawler access, answer-first pages) and a named strategist. Want your AI answers tracked and worked on every week? See AEO + SEO.
Essentials
- 3 blog posts per month
- 3 optimized pages per month
- 2 citations built per month
- 4 Google Business Profile posts per month
- Technical SEO & on-page optimization
- Monthly reporting
- Named strategist, direct access
Growth
- 6 blog posts per month
- 6 optimized pages per month
- 4 citations built per month
- 4 Google Business Profile posts per month
- Technical SEO & on-page optimization
- Biweekly reporting
- Named strategist, direct access
Authority
- 10 blog posts per month
- 10 optimized pages per month
- 6 citations built per month
- 8 Google Business Profile posts per month
- Technical SEO & on-page optimization
- Biweekly reporting
- Named strategist, direct access
All three plans are month-to-month. SEO compounds: meaningful movement typically takes 3 to 6 months, and we will tell you before you sign if your market needs longer.
Two plans, priced on your ad spend
The management fee is set by how much you spend on ads, not by which plan you pick. The plan sets how often we get into the account. Ad spend goes to Google directly and is never bundled into our fee.
Core
- Biweekly optimization cycles
- Search & Performance Max campaign build
- Local Services Ads setup where eligible
- Conversion & call tracking, duration-thresholded
- Negative keyword management
- Monthly reporting on cost per lead
- Named strategist, direct access
Priority
- Weekly optimization cycles
- Everything in Core
- Ad copy & landing page testing
- ZIP-level bid segmentation
- Seasonal budget pacing
- Biweekly reporting on cost per lead and per booked job
- Percentage rate drops at $30K, $50K and $100K spend
What would my management fee be?
Fees are driven by ad spend alone. Google Ads is billed by Google to your own card. We never mark it up or take a cut of it. Month-to-month, cancel any time.
What business owners say about us.
Real reviews from real business owners. 4.9 stars on Google.
Tourism marketing in Savannah, answered.
What does tourism marketing in Savannah cost?
Media Spearhead works month-to-month, with no long-term contract. Google Ads management starts at $400 per month, and ad spend is billed by Google separately. Google Business Profile management starts at $300 per month per profile. A Savannah inn, tour or restaurant can run heavier in fall and before St. Patrick's, lighter in mid-summer, and change the plan month to month.
How should a Savannah business market St. Patrick's Day?
Treat it as a pricing and logistics event, not a demand problem. Savannah hotels topped 95% occupancy over the 2026 weekend, helped by last-minute bookings1. Put event-week rates and minimum stays on your own site, keep ads running for remaining availability, and post parade-day hours, closures and parking notes on your Google Business Profile. Then use the crowd to grow your email list for fall.
How do I fill a slow Savannah summer?
Sell a reason and a price. July and August 2026 ran about 65% occupancy, which Visit Savannah linked to rising travel costs and hotter-than-usual weather2. Run midweek offers to nearby markets, promote evening tours and indoor experiences, and email past guests who already know the city. Keep a small always-on Google Ads budget rather than going dark until fall.
Can I open a new short-term rental in Savannah's Historic District?
Often not for a non-owner-occupied unit. The City of Savannah caps non-owner-occupied short-term vacation rentals at 20% of parcels per ward in the Downtown and Victorian Historic Districts, and about 40 wards are at the cap11. Owner-occupied rentals and properties outside the capped wards follow different rules. Check the city's STVR page before buying or marketing a property.
How much do reviews matter for Savannah tours and B&Bs?
They carry extra weight because Savannah runs on return trips: 69% of visitors have been before5. A tour or B&B with steady recent reviews gives returning guests and the friends they bring a reason to choose it again. We set up review requests after each stay or tour, reply to every review, and never buy, filter or write reviews.
Should Savannah inns and hotels rely on OTAs?
Use OTAs for reach, not as the default. Savannah hotel RevPAR fell 4.5% in the first half of 2025 as supply rose about 5%6, which makes commission-free bookings more valuable. Brand-name Google Ads, a fast booking engine and a returning-guest rate move repeat visitors onto your own site. The calculator on this page shows what that shift is worth at your rate.
When should Savannah businesses start fall and holiday marketing?
By late summer. The fall calendar runs from the Savannah Jazz Festival in September to the Savannah Bananas playoffs in October, the SEC Women's Volleyball Championship in November and Savannah Holly-Days from Thanksgiving to New Year's2. Landing pages and ads should be live before each, and holiday email should go out before Thanksgiving plans are set.
Does convention business matter for Savannah restaurants?
Yes. The Savannah convention center expansion doubled exhibit hall space to 200,000 square feet and added a 40,000-square-foot ballroom6, and about 20% of Savannah visitors travel for business5. Group attendees need dinners, private rooms and evening activities. Restaurants, venues and tour operators can run separate campaigns for planners and attendees during convention weeks.
Is Savannah tourism growing?
It is holding steady. Savannah's 2025 visitor economy showed 12.9 million visitors and $4.1 billion in spending, flat with the year before, and tourism supported 40,780 jobs4. In a flat market, growth comes from taking share. That is where local SEO, reviews and direct booking do the work for a Savannah hospitality business.
Does Media Spearhead have an office in Savannah?
No. Media Spearhead is based in Jacksonville and serves Savannah tourism and hospitality businesses remotely. We research the market directly, from Visit Savannah and Chamber data to the event calendar and city and county rental rules. Work happens over calls, shared reports and email, and you own your ad accounts, Google Business Profile and website data.
Book Savannah's slow months before they arrive.
Tell us which months are hardest to fill for your inn, tour, restaurant or venue. We will review your Google Business Profile, ads and booking path and map a fall-to-spring plan around Savannah's calendar. Call (904) 341-5986.
- Month-to-month
- You own everything
- 4.9 stars on Google
Sources
Every number on this page links to where it came from. Checked September 2026.
- WSAV via Yahoo (Tourism Leadership Council CEO Michael Owens), March 24, 2026
- WTOC (Visit Savannah CEO Joseph Marinelli), Sept 18, 2026
- Savannah Area Chamber / Visit Savannah (Tourism Economics study), May 27, 2026; VisitSavannah.com
- Savannah Area Chamber (Tourism Economics), May 27, 2026
- Savannah Area Chamber – Tourism page
- Hotel Dive (Visit Savannah data), Aug 26, 2025
- WTOC, Sept 25, 2026
- CoStar, June 13, 2024
- Citizen Portal (council meeting coverage)
- AirDNA, updated Sept 29, 2026
- City of Savannah STVR Regulations page