BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -
Harrison County supervisors looked around the board room Monday morning and saw nothing but tourism leaders and business leaders.
Some of the audience members represented the Harrison County Tourism Commission. Others belonged to the Gulf Coast Business Council (GCBC). A third group of people at the meeting was appointed to the Destination Marketing organization (DMO), the group tasked by the GCBC and the Mississippi Development Authority to oversee how this region would spend the $16 million grant given to Mississippi in 2011 to help tourism recover from an oil spill one year earlier.
The fact that three groups were all working separately to market south Mississippi to the world was not lost on board members. "If we don't get together and get together fast," supervisor Windy Swetman said after the meeting, "south Mississippi might just miss the boat."
Mississippi, Alabama and Florida all got BP grant money in 2011. Florida came up with a marketing plan, and according to FoxNews.com, its tourism numbers jumped 61%. The website said Alabama tourism rose 51% last year. But Mississippi tourism grew by just seven percent. "We've got to make sure that we move forward and we have a clear, concise plan, unified," said Swetman. "That's important for everyone."
As the tourism and business groups discussed their differing viewpoints, Swetman made a quick realization. The power struggle between the tourism commission, the GCBC and the DMO was preventing south Mississippi tourism from flourishing. So, supervisors gave the three groups an ultimatum. "Get together, and get a plan," Swetman said, "so we can move forward with that plan as one united group."
Supervisors gave the three groups 60 days to report back to the board with plan that ends what Swetman calls a turf war. "Private public partnerships are the way to go," Swetman said. "We're encouraging the tourism industry and the business community to come together as one, get a clear plan, so that we can all move forward together."
Terrance Friday is talking with representatives from the tourism commission and from the DMO. You'll hear what they have to say about the supervisors' mandate on WLOX News at 10:00.
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