- The move could cost the state an additional million dollars if signed into law by the Governor.
After years of discussion, lawmakers are creating the Mississippi Department of Tourism, separating it out from the Mississippi Development Authority, the state’s economic development agency.
Tourism in Mississippi brought in a record-breaking $17.5 billion in 2023, Visit Mississippi reported at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism earlier this year. The annual Tourism Economic Contribution Report also revealed that the state welcomed a record 43.7 million visitors that year.
The enacting legislation, authored by Senator Mike Thompson (R), that created the new Department is SB 2573 titled the “Mississippi Tourism Reorganization Act.” Personnel related to tourism, including those at the state’s welcome centers and Visit Mississippi, would be transferred to the new state agency, which is to be up and running come July.
Under the legislation, the Governor will appoint an Executive Director of the Department of Tourism with the advice and consent of the Senate. That executive director will serve at the will and pleasure of the Governor and the position’s salary will be set by the Governor, subject to the approval of the State Personnel Board.
The basic duties of the new Department would be to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for branding, advertising, promotion and development of the state’s diverse tourism opportunities including the promotion Mississippi state parks and other outdoors and natural resources of the state.
The Department will be tasked with coordinating with local tourism organizations while also administering related grants and developing individual plans and marketing strategies for each of the state’s five distinct regions based on their individual offerings, markets and growth opportunities.
In addition, the Department would be responsible for developing programs and projects promoting the state’s heritage, history, culture, literature and arts, including the positive recovery of the state after damages caused by natural disasters and demonstrating the state’s attractiveness as a tourism destination.
The legislation allows the Department to sell advertising and other tourism promotional information through the Department of Tourism internet website and other marketing outlets, the revenues of which would be placed in a special advertising fund.
When presenting the measure to the House on Monday, State Rep. Greg Haney (R) told his colleagues that the 2019 sales tax diversion of three percent collected from state restaurants and hotels will be redirected to the new Department for its operation. He later said MDA’s fiscal note on the change showed that it would cost the state an additional $1.3 million on top of the nearly $6 million being transferred to the new agency.
“Other folks looked at it and thought it could be less than a million dollars,” Haney said. “But it’s like any industry. We have so many industries in this state that when they invest in things they recoup the money, and we feel that tourism will reinvest those monies and bring more money to the state.”
State Rep. Becky Currie (R) told Haney in a floor exchange that she was “all for tourism, I’m just not for growing government.”
Currie, along with eight of her House colleagues, voted no on the measure while 108 other members supported it. In the Senate, the legislation passed a month ago by a vote of 43 to 8.
With both chambers now passing the measure unamended, it could reach the desk of Governor Tate Reeves (R) to be signed into law later this week.
Frank Corder
