BOMA Beams at Tourism Progress

At the Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting on Monday, Laura Beth Strickland gave updates on the state of travel in Vicksburg and Mississippi.

According to Strickland, February collections were $117,909.39, a small increase from last year, a 26.9% increase from 2021, and a 10% increase from 2020.

January to March hotel revenue reached $8.5 million, with hotel occupancy at an average of 48.6%.

“Looking at April’s numbers, it looks like we’re going to be pretty high, so everybody’s having a pretty good April,” said Strickland.

In terms of professional development, Strickland and her team attended the MTA Spring Summit and the Vicksburg Main Street Transformation Workshop recently. They also attended the quarterly meeting with Vicksburg National Military Park and continued promotion for Mighty ‘Sip Fest. 

“The event went really well, and we’re looking forward to more Mighty ‘Sip events,” said Strickland concerning the progress of the festival.

Strickland’s team also attended the Mayor’s Economic Development Update with Vicksburg Catholic School, a recurring event going back about 6 years. Strickland and others fielded questions from seniors for why they should come back to Vicksburg after college.

“There’s plenty of job opportunities… The tourism market is growing.” Strickland emphasized, “There’s plenty to do, and Vicksburg is a great place to raise a family.”

Strickland went on to give various reports on Vicksburg tourism rates. According to Strickland, the City had 30 group tours in March, 102 Riverboat Bus tours (50% increase over last year), and 37 HOHO tours for American Queen.

The sales team attended the Public Relations Association of Mississippi State Conference. “They’re working on planning a sales blitz to Jackson meeting planners at the end of this month,” said Strickland.

They are also planning to attend the MS Society of Association Executive Midyear Conference at Pearl River Resort in just a few weeks.

For the International Market Strickland’s team hosted representatives from Visit Mississippi German Media. They expect several international tour operators this month and journalists, acquiring business from German markets. “We get a lot of German travel,” Strickland said.

In other marketing news, Vicksburg is to be featured in Group Travel Leader Magazine this month.

Strickland’s team has pushed 2.3 million travel ads this past month with a successful .9 click-through rate. 

Lastly, the Visitor’s center has given 283 t-shirts so far this year through the Vicksburg Passport program.