Gulf Coast CVB Aims to Expand Tourism on the Coast
A 2% hotel/motel tax in Jackson County and a proposed increase in tourism money may make the difference in filling Mississippi beaches with visitors. Twenty two million visitors came to the State of Mississippi in 2014, and Governor Phil Bryant says that means major cash for the Magnolia State. Bryant says, “Six point two billion dollars’ worth of revenue was brought in for tourism and so we are going to fight hard to see if we can get more support to be able to sell the great product we know as Mississippi.”
The Governor says if Mississippi is better able to market its assets, the number of visitors could easily increase. He also says, “I’ve asked the legislature to give us $5.1 million more dollars to add to the roughly $3 million we spend in advertising this wonderful state. If we could do that, you could see that 22 million people grow.”
Director of the Gulf Coast C.V.B., Renee Areng, says more funding for advertising will not only help draw visitors to the Gulf Coast, but to the entire state. Areng says, “There may be some grant opportunities for some of us on the Coast, but our basic feeling is that they can’t come to the Mississippi Gulf Coast if they don’t come to Mississippi first.”
Governor Bryant estimates tourism revenue could easily increase from $6.2 billion to $9 billion if the state legislature provides the funds to increase advertising. Areng says that will allow the Gulf Coast Regional C.V.B. to highlight the assets on the Coast.
Areng closes, “The unique qualities of nature based tourism, some of the small town charm of Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis, the estuaries, the whole Mississippi Sound, which is our largest marketable asset for the whole Coast, working with the Infinity Center, so we’re definitely working with all three counties to include them in the visitors’ experience.”
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