Tourism is an incredibly important industry in Adams County.  In fiscal year 2016 alone, the local tourism industry accounted for 20.4 percent of our local employment, and it created $110,807,342 in travel and tourism expenditures by visitors (Visit Mississippi 2016 Economic Impact Report).  The Natchez Convention Promotion Commission (NCPC) plays a crucial role in this industry as it is obligated to encourage both conventions and visitors to come to Adams County and to market cultural, educational and other events within the county, including tours and tourism attractions.

On Oct. 26, 2016, Barbara Bruce, Katie McCabe, Helen Moss Smith, Mary Lee Toles, Dana Wilson and I met and organized for the first time as the newly appointed NCPC. We have been running hard ever since conducting reviews of vast amounts of information related to NCPC operations and responsibilities, making appointments to finalize a fully formed Tourism Marketing Advisory Committee, and working with the city to tag our new director of the future, the very capable Jennifer Ogden Combs.  Aside from the standard work that centers around operations and functionality, we have also chipped away at exciting new initiatives that expand our social media presence, unite and inform over 100 stakeholders through our first tourism summit, and provide needed aid with the launch of the newly established Marketing Assistance Funding Program that supports entities making significant positive impacts to our local economy and attracting outsiders to Natchez. Our future endeavors are slated to be ambitious as well. We will institute plans to create new branding initiatives, marketing plans and strategic plans while also updating and expanding the Visit Natchez website and providing new tourism related workshops.

In addition to these efforts, we have also met with the Natchez Convention Center staff and managers and City of Natchez officials to examine another important aspect of NCPC responsibilities, which is to promote and develop the Natchez Convention Center.  We will continue to meet with those persons to promote and ensure a positive impact on the local economy as created by the Convention Center.

Our purpose is to promote Natchez and encourage visitors to come to our beautiful city for an experience that is like nowhere else.  While our long standing exemplary institutions create an experience that is unique and appealing, we are encouraged by the growth of new businesses, such as downtown retail shops and several tour companies. We applaud Greg Iles’ continued promotion of Natchez and are expecting to see renewed interest in our region due to the release of Mississippi Blood, the final installment of the Natchez Burning trilogy. We thank Mayor Darryl Grennell and his efforts to create new tourism opportunities with a potential sister city partner in Nashville.  Our tourism economy can only grow and succeed if we continue to push and promote each other in a positive and meaningful manner.

The NCPC is engaged in that positive growth, and we encourage visitors to attend our regularly scheduled meetings at 1 p.m. every third Wednesday in the CVB conference room at 640 South Canal St.  We also invite anyone with tourism related items to be recognized on the agenda as a special guest by contacting our staff at 601-446-6345 at least one week in advance.

Lance Harris is the chair of the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission.