With diverse locations for filming across the Virgin Islands, the territory’s film industry is on the upswing, Tourism Department spokesman Luana Wheatley said Monday.

“We’re starting to get busier,” Wheatley said, adding that January has been particularly busy.

“We are so much more than the beach, and we are just as competitive as many locations,” she said.

Ingrid Ott-Zucker, who owns the St. John-based Ott Works producer/production/location services company, said the fact that mainland companies don’t need a visa to work in the territory is another plus.

Agi Rampino of the St. Thomas-based Sunbow Location Services listed easy accessibility, experienced crews and equipment availability, including vehicle rentals, as reasons why the Virgin Islands film business is doing well.

“We have the whole package available here and they don’t anywhere else,” Rampino said.

Wheatley, who also works with Tourism’s Film Promotion Office, said the office’s purpose is to provide local jobs. She said the office looks at things like how much the production will spend on hotels, transportation, meals and using local equipment.

“Sports Illustrated” swimsuit edition brings a lot of attention to the territory. According to Wheatley, crews shot the new edition at Caneel Bay Resort on St. John in late November and early December.

She said this wasn’t just the usual swimsuit shoot but rather one in which a painter painted the swimsuits on the models’ bodies.

While Wheatley can’t disclose the details about recent advertisement shoots because the department signs a nondisclosure clause, she said that crews recently shot a film called “Painting the Town” that will air on PBS. Wheatley said an artist visited all three main islands to experience things like mocko jumbie lessons. She said he put his experiences down in paint.

“And in turn, he turned it into a puzzle,” she said.

The Little Big Town county band recently shot a video on St. Thomas, Wheatley added.

Ott-Zucker said 2014 was a “really great” year for her company. “I hope 2015 is the same,” she said.

She said that Pottery Barn has shot its catalogue three times in the territory since 2013.

“They were on St. Thomas and St. John recently,” she said.

Ott-Zucker said Pottery Barn used local residents and children as models. “They say we have absolutely beautiful kids,” she said.

Her company joined production with with husband Eric Zucker’s firm, TellTale-Pictures, to make the V.I. Nice commercials. She also said that Nordstrom and Target were in the territory last year to shoot catalogues.

Ott-Zucker said there have also been inquiries from television shows.