The numbers are in, and this year’s Spring Pilgrimage was a big improvement over last year’s, tourism officials said.

Group tours were up 75 percent from last year, and individual tours were up nearly 10 percent, Natchez Pilgrimage Tours Manager Jim Coy said.

That’s still down 25 percent from pre-Katrina numbers, but Coy said he was optimistic about the coming years.

“I’m very positive that we can get back to the mid-90s numbers someday, with the baby boomers approaching retirement age an with the tremendous building boom we’re having,” Coy said.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, many travelers and group tours canceled vacation plans — plans that meant a stop in Natchez, he said.

Group tours and boats were back this year and helped bump up the Pilgrimage numbers, Coy said.

“The fact that the boats come and go to the (Historic Natchez) Pageant helped the Pageant increase their income this year,” he said.

Some antebellum house owners, too, noticed an increase in the number of guests they entertained.

“In terms of turnout, I think this year was wonderful,” said Marie Perkins, owner of Shields Town House. “I’ve had the same people receiving for me for a long time, and they all said it was a very good turnout.”

The character of her visitors was as impressive as the volume, Perkins said.

“The people who came were so charming, wonderful and appreciative,” she said. “They enjoyed Natchez, and I think a lot of people felt they discovered a jewel.”

Perkins said she hoped next year even more people would stop in for Pilgrimage.

“We’re always looking for bigger and better,” she said. “We hope a lot more people will come. I think people really and truly are discovering Natchez.”

Ruth Ellen and William Calhoun, who own Elgin, said they were very glad to see the numbers up.

“I was delighted with the number (of visitors),” Ruth Ellen Calhoun said. “It certainly seems to be picking up again after all our disasters. (This year,) the weather was pretty, and the flowers all bloomed at the right time.”

The jump in the volume of visitors gave a boost to the tax receipts on items like restaurants and lodging, too, Natchez Tourism Director Walter Tipton said.

March’s tax receipts were almost equal to last year’s, Tipton said. And while that may not seem like much, “that’s great,” Tipton said.

“The evacuees have left the area, but our tourism product has picked up to fill that void,” he said. “And we’re comparing that to a March of last year when the Ramada (Inn) was open.

“And yet tourism taxes have remained relatively the same. So, that’s a very good thing.”