Tourism is picking up across the state. “We just went through a very successful college baseball season and fans coming out, going to games on the weekends in our college towns. Planning for open season for football. Festivals are back at 100%,” according to Craig Ray–Director of Visit Mississippi. In an interview on The Gallo Show on SuperTalk Mississippi this morning he told us there’s only one area that’s slow right now, trade shows and corporate meetings. And since those are typically planned 6 months out it will take some time to see their return.
They may not be going out of state, but Ray says they’re seeing an uptick in the number of Mississippians traveling in-state. Hotel bookings and restaurants are two of the biggest indicators. ” And of course the gaming revenues is a good 50% of all our numbers. So when we see our gaming revenues that are shared by Larry Greggory and team, and they’re at record numbers even though their hotel occupancy is down, it means the people that are going are spending more money.”
