Tourism leaders reflect on summer travel season for South Mississippi

With summer in the books, tourism leaders are taking a look back at what brought visitors to South Mississippi and what it means for the local economy.

Summer may be coming to an end, but for South Mississippi, the tourism season brought plenty of people to the Coast.

From beaches and boat launches to local restaurants, attractions and events, visitors had plenty of reasons to make the trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Coastal Mississippi CEO/ Executive Director Judy Young said, “This was a very active summer. We had a good crossed demographic of visitors from a grand vacation, which is grandparents and grandkids, to couples coming in and families. So, the Coast is diversified in many ways over the last five years with their attractions and with the opportunities for each generation to have a great stay. So, it was a good year so far and it is going to be a great fall.”

The Coast also hosted a number of events throughout the summer, giving visitors even more reasons to stay, explore, and spend time in South Mississippi.

As the summer travel season winds down, tourism leaders are already looking ahead. “Fall brings a wealth of opportunities to get out and about. Obviously, one of our anchor events is Cruisin’ the Coast, but we have a lot of other event development, primarily in sports. Look at the Songwriters Festival and the Hobie 16 international competition. We have customers from all over the world; so far, we’ve welcomed visitors from 32 countries to Coastal Mississippi. Most of the time they tend to stay seven to ten days, which creates a big impact. As we use Amtrak to help move people around, European clients really enjoy and understands rail travel. We also have multiple nonstops that come into Gulfport, so for everyone that’s from here, fly Gulfport first.”

Tourism officials say the momentum doesn’t stop with summer. From fall festivals to major events like Cruisin’ the Coast, visitors are expected to keep coming to South Mississippi throughout the fall months.