Page 4 - Mississippi/Louisiana Gaming News - Winter, 2021

Guest Editorial
Marketing groups join together to assist recovery
Of cial Newsmagazine of the Mississippi Gaming Industry
WINTER 2021 Volume XVIII Issue 1
STAFF
W. Michael Sunderman
Publisher
michael@m2mediacorp.com
Lori Beth Susman
General Manager / Executive Editor
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Mary Sunderman
Associate Publisher
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David Grisham
Contributing Editor david@m2mediacorp.com
Michael Haynes
Business Manager
manager@m2mediacorp.com
Designers
Brian Treadaway
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Mississippi Gaming News
(MGN) is owned and published by M2 Media Corp., 12268 Intraplex Parkway, Gulfport, MS 39503. MGN is produced in cooperation with the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association. The contents of MGN are copyrighted. All rights are reserved. Reproduction in part or whole without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.
By Webster Franklin
The COVID-19 global pandemic has greatly destabilized Mississippi’s $6 billion-plus annual tourism industry with negative economic effects felt by restaurants,
hotels, tourism attractions, and numerous small businesses throughout the state. Since
the beginning
of March
2020, the U.S.
travel sector’s
economic losses
have surpassed
$367 billion
from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Sept. 10, 2020, report published by U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics. During this time, Mississippi’s portion of overall travel sector losses have now exceeded $2 billion.
Despite these challenges, Mississippi’s dynamic tourism sector is poised for real growth and to take major steps forward coming out of the pandemic. As learned after numerous natural disasters, sometimes a catastrophe can lead to a whole new way of looking at the world and act as catalyst for investments into a better and more resilient future. The industry is facing a similar opportunity now and should take time to re-imagine how the state approaches tourism to move the industry forward in a way that strengthens it for the long term.
The staggering decline in visitor spending has created a damaging
ripple effect for the state’s closed
and semi-closed destinations and businesses, which sent unemployment gures to record high levels. In all, the state’s leisure and hospitality sector, which employed more than 120,000 Mississippians in 2019, was the hardest hit of all sectors.
During this crisis, the state’s local destination marketing organizations have remained engaged on the front
lines, working with the private and public sector on ways to minimize the long-term economic consequences of the pandemic while always keeping the health and safety of its visitors a top priority.
Mississippi’s Destination Marketing Organizations joined together in the spring of 2020 to develop a strategic public policy initiative to assist in Mississippi’s economic recovery
through tourism. The end result of
this collaboration led to the creation of the $13.5 million Mississippi Tourism Recovery Fund passed by the Mississippi Legislature this past summer.
The creation of this advertising
fund has had a dramatic effect on the economic recovery of our state and has played a crucial role in the economic stability of the gaming industry here in Tunica.
The Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau received $895,015 from the fund that was used to market our destination to consumers in our key out- of-state markets of Memphis, Little Rock, Nashville, Huntsville and Birmingham.
A recent study by Longwoods International, a leading U.S. travel and tourism research rm, found that visiting a Mississippi casino was second only to visiting friends and relatives as the main purpose of a visitor trip to our state. They also found that travelers were willing to travel closer to home during the pandemic to a safe and controlled environment.
The Mississippi gaming industry has been on the cutting edge of implementing recommended safety measures by the CDC, and our marketing efforts here
at the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau helped to educate that our destination was doing all it could to provide a safe, clean environment while at work or visiting the destination.
Utilizing the funds available from the Mississippi Tourism Recovery Fund,
the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau created the “Tunica – Your Clean Getaway” advertising campaign. The campaign was successful in generating more than 27 million new advertising
Webster Franklin
4MISSISSIPPI GAMING NEWS WINTER 2021