SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- The glitz and glamour of Hollywood is giving a boost to the Central Coast.
Lights, camera, action! The red carpet is rolled out for celebrities and celebrity watchers. This year's event is expected to draw as many as 70,000 visitors to Santa Barbara.
"This is my first time here and I'm quite thrilled actually, it's my first California film festival," said Paula Pivatr, who traveled all the way from Italy to Santa Barbara.
"...And we need a hug from George Clooney tomorrow when he's introducing Ben Affleck at the tribute, so that's what were hoping to see," said Stacey Difilippo, a local attendee.
The 10 day event is anything but cheap. Individual tickets cost $35, while private passes sell as high as $5,000. The big bucks certainly aren't holding people back from coming to town.
"This year is kind of an unusual year in the sense that presale tickets and passes have gone far beyond in any other year," said Carol Marshall, Director of Publicity for the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Festival volunteers are seeing people from all over the country, which is pumping money into the local economy.
"We get people from all around the world. We got people coming here from Bulgaria, Peru, from Russia, from Canada. We even have somebody here from Israel," explained Marshall.
With festival-goers hitting the Central Coast, many hotels in the area are already sold out.
"It is an introduction for many to Santa Barbara and we will receive referral business from them and also repeat business for them in the future," said Nadine Turner, Hotel Santa Barbara.
Businesses like Carlitos restaurant, across the street from the festival say they serve the most customers this time of the year.
"It brings a lot of people here and a lot of celebrities, people just watching people outside so it's great… a lot of tourists, we get really busy," said Maxi Fonseza, Manager of Carlitos restaurant.
Ben Affleck and Quentin Tarantino are just some of the big celebrities that are making their way into town for the event. The festival runs January 24th through February 3rd.
