- It is anticipated that another attempt at creating a standalone Department of Tourism will occur during the 2026 legislative session.
The Mississippi Tourism Advertising Fund received $15.1 million in revenues in the 2025 fiscal year, an increase of $440,000 over the prior year.
Of that, the Mississippi Development Authority expended nearly $13.5 million to promote tourism in Mississippi.
That was the word from the latest report from the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review, or PEER.
The state is now in the third fiscal year since lawmakers directed 3 percent of restaurant and hotel sales tax collections to be deposited into the Tourism Advertising Fund for every month of the year. The fund began with 1 percent of restaurant and hotel sales tax collections and then moved to 2 percent in year two, before increasing to 3 percent in year three where it remains.
State law dictates that monies in the tourism fund are to be for “…the purpose of paying costs incurred in connection with the purchase of Internet advertising and other promotional information and materials related to Mississippi tourism resources and activities…”
In addition, MDA is authorized to sell advertising and other promotional information and enter
into agreements with other tourism associations for the purpose of facilitating sales revenue to
deposit into the Tourism Advertising Fund.
According to PEER, expenditures from the Tourism Advertising Fund decreased in comparison to the prior fiscal year by $700,000.
In FY 2025, PEER said MDA expended approximately $3.6 million, or 26 percent on professional services such as advertisement and graphic creation, television production, and public relations services.
Advertising and public information expenditures accounted for roughly $9.9 million, or 73 percent of expenditures from the Tourism Advertising Fund during the 2025 fiscal year.
PEER pointed out that MDA staff said all advertising, media, promotional services, and events are evaluated according to available metrics to ensure funds are being spent on activities that maximize the reach and impact of the funds.
At the end of the fiscal year, the Tourism Advertising Fund held an approximate balance of $3.5 million balance. PEER noted that according to MDA staff, proceeding into Fiscal Year 2026 and future fiscal years the state agency’s goal is to operate the tourism fund at a near net-zero balance by setting expenditures relative to the immediate past collected revenues.
PEER recommend that MDA work to ensure that it the agency is planning expenditures around marketing activities “that show increased tourism as well as increased restaurant and hotel sales tax revenues collection.”
As previously reported, lawmakers have for years debated creating as standalone Mississippi Department of Tourism, separating it out from the Mississippi Development Authority, the state’s economic development agency.
During the 2025 session, the “Mississippi Tourism Reorganization Act” was overwhelmingly passed in both the House and Senate. The bill would have moved personnel related to tourism, including those at the state’s welcome centers and Visit Mississippi, to a new Department of Tourism.
However, due to the legislative wrangling over the state budget, Governor Tate Reeves (R) vetoed the measure, saying, the bill as sent to him did not the accompanying appropriations bills for either MDA or the newly created Mississippi Department of Tourism.
The governor did state at the time that while he is “strongly opposed to enlarging the size of government by creating a new state agency and have tirelessly fought to shrink the size of government and not take one cent more from taxpayers than is absolutely necessary to fund the essential functions of government, if sufficient appropriations are provided to both MDA and the Mississippi Department of Tourism, I would allow this bill to become law.”
It is anticipated that another attempt that creating a standalone Department of Tourism will occur during the 2026 legislative session.
Frank Corder
