NATCHEZ — An international tourism conference this weekend in New Orleans is helping to expose Natchez tourism to a large audience.

Interim Tourism Director Jennifer Ogden Combs said groups of international travel agents and other tourism professionals have already been escorted through Natchez on their way to the International Powwow in New Orleans.

IPW is an annual tourism conference that takes place in a different place every year. This year, approximately 6,000 people are expected to attend from all over the world.

“IPW hasn’t been this close to Natchez ever, so we’re getting exposed to a tremendous number of people because it’s in New Orleans,” Combs said.

More groups will be touring the city leading up the conference, which begins Sunday.

“Saturday (we will host) Team America, some of the top tour operators in the world, and their VIPs,” Combs said. “These are very much the kind of people we’re excited about sharing Natchez with.”

The hope is, Combs said, that they will recommend and book trips to Natchez for their international customers.

Two representatives from Natchez will travel to New Orleans Sunday for the conference and will stay several days, taking appointments — and walk-ins — from even more tourism professionals.

Visit Natchez Sales Director Lynsey Smith and Monmouth Marketing and Sales Director Makalah Brown will be representing Natchez at the conference.

Smith said some of her scheduled meetings were with agencies from Germany, the United Kingdom and Israel.

“I always compare it to, if New Orleans is the Big Easy, we’re the Little Easy,” Smith said. “So they get to see the comparison. We can talk about it until we’re blue in the face but when they get to see what we’re talking about and meet people in the community, that seals the deal.”

Brown said she was both nervous and excited to be attending the conference, which she said is far larger than any she has gone to before.

“A lot of what we do at Monmouth is international travelers,” Brown said. “It makes for an interesting conference, to have people from all over the globe in one room. Some of the companies there are people we already work with at Monmouth. So it’s always good to see and further their relationships with companies you already do business with.”