Yazoo County CVB Recognized As One of the Best in Mississippi Tourism Industry

Mississippi Tourism Recognizes Yazoo County CVB as one of the Best and Brightest in the State’s Industry

Yazoo City, Miss. (September 26, 2017) – This week, the Mississippi Tourism Association presented a host of awards to tourism entities around the state during the 2017 Governor’s Conference on Tourism. Held at the Jackson Convention Complex, the awards ceremony showcased the best and brightest tourism organizations, staff members, volunteers and projects from across Mississippi. Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau received the Convention and Visitors Bureau of the Year award for the $500,000 to $749,000 budget category. This is the first year that Yazoo County CVB has been eligible to compete in this category and the first CVB of the Year win since the last time the CVB was nominated in 2014.

 

Yazoo County CVB won CVB of the Year 2017 at the Mississippi Governor’s Conference on Tourism in September 26, 2017 in Jackson, Mississippi. YCCVB Board Member Danny Neely and Executive Director Shanitra Finley are pictured with the award.

During the award criteria period, May 1, 2016 – May 30, 2017, Yazoo County CVB helped to sponsor or promote over 30 events in Yazoo County. Those events helped to bring many people to Yazoo County to eat, stay, and shop. The CVB’s advertising and marketing efforts garnered a large amount of coverage of Yazoo County’s tourism assets in publications including Southern Living, Mississippi Magazine, Delta Magazine, Matador Network, Only In Mississippi (Only In Your State), Southern Travel + Lifestyle Magazine, American Blues Scene, Associated Press, and others.

Nearly 15 Million Dollars was spent in Yazoo County in FY 2016 by tourists and travelers. The 2017 numbers are on track to surpass the 2016 numbers.

 

Some of the accomplishments which led to the win for the CVB include:

  • Celebrated Yazoo County’s bluesman Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and his appearance on the United States Postal Service Forever Stamp commemorating Mississippi’s Bicentennial unveiled in March 2017, helping to solidify Yazoo County’s place as one of the most significant blues stops statewide.
  • Created and promoted an itinerary for visitors to take advantage of year-round called their “Ten Can’t-Miss” list which facilitated many travel blog posts. The list led to Yazoo County being hailed as one of the “coolest small towns” and one of the “coolest counties” in Mississippi by Matador Network and Only In Your State in November 2016.
  • Increased promotions of Yazoo County as a stop for blues enthusiasts leading to huge increases in web traffic on the CVB website’s Blues, Art, and Culture page. Visits to the page increased (nearly 2,300% from 242 the previous year to 5,782 from May 1, 16 – May 31, 17.
  • Brought in web traffic from May 1, 16 – May 31, 17 to www.visityazoo.org of 47,369 Visitors, 59,231 Visits, and Page Views of nearly 100,000.
  • Received a 2016 Readers’ Choice Award from Convention South placing Yazoo County CVB in the top 250 meeting sites and destinations in the South.
  • Continued to increase their social media presence: Visit Yazoo on Facebook likes increased organically by 16% from May 1, 16 to May 31, 17.
  • Continued their internship/scholarship program for graduating high school seniors in 2016, an effort to educate high school students in Yazoo County on the importance of tourism to the economy of the area, and to encourage them to consider Tourism Management as a profession.
  • Assisted area tourism partners with branding and social media including one-on-one social media tutoring, with the goal to some day have all Yazoo County tourism partners active on social media.

Under the leadership of Executive Director Shanitra Finley and her 19 years of tourism experience, the Yazoo County CVB has worked tirelessly to refresh the image of Yazoo County with their “Visit Yazoo” campaign. This campaign features Yazoo County’s unique festivals and annual events including the Bentonia Blues Festival, Jerry Clower Festival, Antique Days, and the new annual event Yaz Summer Blast, as well as highlighting Yazoo County’s unique history, delicious food, “Unique, Boutique & Thrifty” shopping opportunities, and continues telling the story of Yazoo County as “Colorful, Authentic, and Unique…just like you!”

“This recognition is given to our tourism industry leaders who we value for their talents and achievements through their outstanding accomplishments. We are happy to have the opportunity to honor the winners of these awards as we truly appreciate their dedication not only to our organization but to the entire tourism industry,” said Nancy Carpenter, 2017-2018 president of MTA.

The Yazoo County CVB also continues to sponsor events and projects throughout Yazoo County. Without the help of the CVB’s Tourism Grant program and the Event Sponsorship program, many of these events would not exist today, including Jerry Clower Festival, Bentonia Blues Festival, Gospel Explosion, Antique Days, Yaz Summer Blast, Yazoo Day, and many more. These events are helping to show prospective visitors that there is always something to do in Yazoo County. The CVB also continues to host various groups to their region, touring the historic sites and cemeteries, blues trail stops, museum, and more. Yazoo County CVB continues to work hard to promote its community and its tourism product while attracting travelers from around the state and around the world to “Visit Yazoo.”