NATCHEZ — Tourism leaders began Wednesday what they hope is an ongoing community discussion about the future of tourism in Natchez.

More than 100 officials and professionals attended the first of at least two tourism summits aimed at shaping the focus of tourism efforts going forward.

The summit took place most of the day Tuesday at the Natchez Convention Center and was hosted by the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission and Visit Natchez. The gathering was geared toward educating community members about the city’s tourism operation.

“This is meant be an overview of our staff, our boards, our mission, a beginning conversation with you all who are our most important tourism partners,” Natchez Tourism Director Jennifer Ogden Combs said. Combs, who was director of the tricentennial, was recently named director of tourism.

Following a yearlong tricentennial celebration in 2016 and a year of changes in the city’s tourism leadership, officials have been seeking to create a vision and plan for tourism efforts going forward.

Natchez Convention Promotion Commission chair Lance Harris, also director of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, gave an overview of the commission’s oversight of tourism operations.

Harris and other commissioners were appointed a few months ago to fill the seats on the commission left vacant when the board of aldermen asked the former commission to resign last year.

Harris said the commission has been meeting frequently and with various officials in an effort to research and understand fully the commission’s roles and duties, while also overseeing daily tourism operations.

As for the future, Harris said, the commission “will certainly continue our main mission to market and promote Natchez.”

“With the guidance of professional staff and efforts put for by the (Tourism Marketing Advisory Committee), we will continue to push forward about getting the word out about our beautiful home,” he said.

TMAC chair and Dunleith Assistant General Manager Lyn Fortenbery gave an overview of TMAC, which oversees the creation of a marketing campaign and the expenditure of the $2 “heads on beds” tax money for marketing. She also spoke about the efforts of the Mississippi Tourism Association for which she serves on the board of directors.

Attendees also heard presentations from the staff of the Natchez Visitor Reception Center and tourism offices on the various aspects of visitor services, marketing and advertising, social media, communications and community relations.

The staff also announced new initiatives, including a hospitality reference manual that will be available to local businesses as a guidebook for tourism, an event guide that will serve as a map for how to establish a quality event and a more mobile friendly website.

Terry Gallagher and Matt Sessions of the Lou Hammond Group of New York attended the summit to talk about the public relations firm’s work with Natchez and various other destinations.

Gallagher said the firm predominantly works with members of the media to obtain coverage for clients. Gallagher said since the firm has been working with Natchez, 138 stories have been published with a total audience reach of 500 million people. That equates to $2.5 million in advertising space the city did not have to purchase, Gallagher said.

Going forward, Gallagher said, Lou Hammond will work with Natchez to help develop tourism products with the goal of driving year-round tourism.

The next steps, Combs said, will involve hard work and a unified effort from tourism stakeholders and community members.

“I am very honored to be working with the boards that we have and with the team and the staff we have and our partners in New York, and I think we are going to have some really great things coming forward,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot of work, and it’s going to take a lot of cooperation and collaboration together to make that happen.”

Presentations from the tourism summit as well as tourism research studies are available to download online at bit.ly/2mfEjj7.