2023 Operational Plan

OPERATIONAL PLAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Message from the President & CEO

“To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It’s not about winning and losing; it’s about everyday hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It’s about embracing the pain that you’ll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge.” -Summer Sander

It is my pleasure to present the Operational Plan for Visit Jackson’s Fiscal Year 2023. Within these pages, you will find contemplated and vetted strategies that our experiences and research best positions Mississippi’s Capital City for heightened maximum OPPORTUNITY for the continued growth of the Jackson Tourism Industry and its Destination Management Organization.

During Fiscal Year 2022 I am honored to report that our positioning as a more destination inclusive and holistic agency has yielded qualitative success and qualitative key performance indicators that our Board of Directors challenged our team, just one year ago. Recent findings presented at the 2022 Destination International Convention confirm that the data-based tactics we embraced last fiscal year are now industry best practices and that our counterparts from across the globe are too utilizing similar strategies to remain valued and relevant.

Last year this time, we knew that the Coronavirus Global Pandemic would continue to be a significant factor that the global travel industry should be prepared to embrace. Our public health practices and associated tactics will remain fluid. We will continue to rely on the recommendations from the national and global health community to continue to welcome visitors in a safe and responsible manner.

In the spirit of transparency… What I did not consider was the realities of local politics and decades of neglected priorities that now impede the marketability of a grand and beautiful city celebrating its Bicentennial. Public safety, crumbling infrastructure issues, “brain-drain”, the challenge of the status quo systems that devalue socially and economically marginalized populations, and a fractured relationship between City Hall and the State Capital Building; these issues lie on the fringe of what a traditional DMO embraces, however, if COVID-19 taught us nothing else, be prepared to embrace change. In the upcoming year, Visit Jackson will remain engaged and where appropriate, serve as a resource and bridge to support our City Leadership and State Electorate resulting in a strong Capital City with a vibrant tourism outlook.

During FY 2022-2023, Visit Jackson will utilize two methodologies to drive our continued quest for OPPORTUNITY. Meteorologist Edward Lorenz’s The Butterfly Effect is the idea that small things can have non-linear impacts on a complex system; and, his Chaos Theory, an interdisciplinary scientific theory, and branch of mathematics focused on underlying patterns and deterministic laws, of dynamical systems, that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, that were once thought to have completely random states of disorder and irregularities.

Our ongoing commitment to our stakeholders is to remain focused in the upcoming year to merge OPPORTUNITY with Change to Impact our destination. I thank our passionate Board of Directors for their continued dedication to ensuring that our work is successful and like Sanders and King, Jr. we remain committed to assuring that nothing stands in the pathway of success of our tourism industry.

Rickey L. Thigpen

Rickey L. Thigpen, PhD President & CEO Visit Jackson

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

About Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau dba Visit Jackson

In 1983, the state legislature established the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau now doing business as Visit Jackson. Senate Bill #3080 authorized the creation of Visit Jackson, identified its purpose, and provided for funding through the levying of a 1% sales tax upon hotels/motels and restaurants. These funds form the foundation on which Visit Jackson promotes Jackson as a tourist, group tour, trade show, and convention/meeting destination.

Visit Jackson is the official destination leadership organization for the City of Jackson. It serves the Jackson Community by positively impacting the city’s economy through recruitment and securing meetings and tourism activities. Visit Jackson is a quasiindependent governmental agency created by the Mississippi State Legislature.

Visit Jackson was awarded accreditation from the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) - first in 2012 and renewed in 2021 with distinction - and was the first accredited DMO in the state of Mississippi. DMAP is an international accreditation program developed by Washington, DC-based Destinations International which is the world’s largest resource for official destination organizations, convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) and tourism boards.

Mission

The Mission of Visit Jackson is to connect, engage and inspire the Jackson community to be a welcoming destination for conventions, meetings, sporting events, and special events, resulting in rich, cultural, and memorable experiences with a rewarding senseof-place for visitors and an economically beneficial and an enhanced quality-of-life for residents.

Goal

The overall goal of Visit Jackson is to cause major economic impact for Jackson through programs designed to identify, attract and service conventions and meetings, trade shows, group tours, sporting events, and consumer travelers, while cultivating relationships with stakeholders, the value of citizen contributions, and the collective quality of life of the destination.

Vision

To be recognized and respected as an innovative destination marketing organization that sustainably achieves economic vitality and success through the constant, complete, and fully committed practice of our shared values in the promotion of Jackson, Mississippi, as a world-class destination city.

Values

Integrity We are fair, honest and transparent, inspiring trust in others.

Collaboration We respect, nurture, support and empower one another.

Passion We uphold the spirit of our community; the goal of our organization, and we are committed to making our jobs and the jobs of our co-workers’ fun on a consistent basis.

Respect We respect and understand the importance of our bureau’s mission, take pride in being an integral part of its success, and are committed to aggressively upholding the principles of diversity, inclusion, and hospitality.

Brand Promise

Jackson is all about an authentic SOUL, which isn’t wrapped up in the number of hotel rooms or events or attractions in the city. The SOUL of Jackson is uniquely tied to our people. Our people exude creativity and hospitality forging memorable experiences every time you visit the City with Soul.

Diversity Inclusion Statement

Visit Jackson is fiercely committed to reflecting and upholding the value of diversity of thought, culture, and lifestyles that is inherent in the Jackson community. We are dedicated to practicing radical inclusion and believe that a plurality of ideas and experiences shaped around civil dialogue and equitable outreach is the driving and consistent force that makes Jackson a great destination and a great city.

BOARD

Susan Garrard Attractions Community

Enrika Williams Restaurant Community

Monique Davis Education

Carol J. Burger Business Community, Chair

Lewis Formby Hotel Community

John Miller At-Large

Marc Arancibia OVG Facilities/ JXN Convention Complex

Blake Brennan Restaurant Community

Pamela Junior Arts

FY 2022-23 Board of Directors

RThigpen@visitjackson.com

CMcInnis@visitjackson.com

JPettus@visitjackson.com

Rickey Thigpen, PhD President & CEO

Jennifer Chance, CPA Chief Operating Officer JChance@visitjackson.com

Jonathan Pettus Chief Marketing Officer

Christine Blackmon Chief Experience Officer

Amy Dillard Administrative Manager ADillard@visitjackson.com

Yolanda Clay-Moore Director of Communications YCMoore@visitjackson.com

Shun Hatten Chief Sales Officer SHatten@visitjackson.com

MHogg@visitjackson.com

KLewis@visitjackson.com

RPerryman@visitjackson.com

SRatliff@visitjackson.com

SSmith@visitjackson.com

LVogelsang@visitjackson.com

FWilliams@visitjackson.com

PWolf@visitjackson.com

Michael Hogg

Sherri Ratliff Tourism & Convention Sales Manager

Laura Vogelsang Executive Support Specialist

Paul Wolf Content Marketing Manager

Reshonda Perryman Creative Design Manager

Shana Smith Sales Coordinator

Floyd Williams Director of Sports Activities & Administration

Kim Lewis Destination Development Manager

OPERATIONAL PLAN FORECASTING

The continuing evolution of our global environment continues to necessitate fluid examination of destination management organization best practices that have the best propensity for effective success. Destination International notes that there has been a shift in traditional destination marketing organization functionality to embrace destination management philosophies. Holistic community engagement must now be the norm when the work of the DMO is considered. Hence Visit Jackson will continue to fortify its engagement of the community-at-large to achieve its goal of causing a major economic impact for Jackson through programs designed to identify, attract, and service conventions and meetings, trade shows, group tours, sporting events, and consumer travelers while cultivating relationships with stakeholders, the value of citizenry contributions, and the collective quality of life of the destination.

The validity of DMOs continues to be challenged during these times. The lessons learned during the Coronavirus Global Pandemic include approaching the work of tourism and the economic impact associated with the hospitality industry in an inclusive and openminded approach. Industry professionals support the notion that embracing this approach to the work of the DMO yields viability and value to the served community.

During Fiscal Year 2023, Visit Jackson will continue to execute strategies that further its collective ambition philosophy, evaluating its tactical priorities on a quarterly basis. A double downing of aggressive goals, objectives, and key performance indicators will serve as benchmarks for connecting, engaging, and inspiring the Jackson community to be a welcoming destination for conventions, meetings, sporting events, and special events, resulting in rich, cultural, and memorable experiences with a rewarding sense-of-place for visitors and an economically beneficial and an enhanced quality-of-life for residents.

Continued Utilization Of National & Regional Data-Driven Indicators

Longwoods International will continue to serve as Visit Jackson’s premier research partner providing resident sentiment research for the Jackson community and annual domestic visitor volume, profile, and travel insights through Travel USA®, the largest and longest ongoing national study of American domestic travel. These insights provided by Longwoods continue to inform the development of tourism programs and marketing initiatives to grow tourism in the city of Jackson.

Oxford Economics is one of the world’s leading providers of economic analysis, forecasts, and consulting advice. Tourism Economics is an Oxford Economics subsidiary with vast experience in providing actionable and credible analysis of tourism. Tourism Economics works with national and local tourism offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and some of the largest tourism service companies in the world. Hundreds of destinations and companies have trusted our staff to help them make better marketing, investment, and policy decisions based on credible, fact-based, quantitative analysis.

This past year Visit Jackson partnered with Tourism Economics on SYMPHONY, their customizable business intelligence platform designed to help DMOs quiet the noise of complex data, compose crystal clear intelligence, and amplify the importance of destination sales and marketing to stakeholders. The leadership of Visit Jackson recently examined reporting deliverables and made adjustments to datasets, to yield more purposeful and impactful data results.

Data Integration

Through partnerships with Tourism Economics and Longwoods International, Visit Jackson has built a research program that sits as the foundation for marketing and program development, becoming a more data-driven organization. The capabilities of these research partners enable Visit Jackson to have insights unique to the city of Jackson and place those into the context of the broader travel market, helping Visit Jackson build fully informed programs that competitively position the destination in the broader travel market.

The Forecast

We continue to see the results of implementing strategies that navigate through external factors for Mississippi’s Capital City. We continue to experience cautious optimism when navigating safe public health practices resulting in safer meeting and vitiation environments.

However, public health experts want us to know that there is still a concern that new mutations of the virus are emerging and could heighten public health considerations.

According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American Travel Sentiment Update, the travel demand is still high, 92% of American travelers indicate that they have plans to go somewhere in the next six months. A record 31% of American travelers indicate that concerns about their personal financial situation will greatly impact their decision to travel in the next six months (up six points from 25% in just one month). A survey record 70% of American travelers now say rising gas prices will either impact or greatly impact their decision to travel in the next six months… with 43% indicating it would greatly impact their decision to travel!

Key impacts are: Reducing the number of trips planned – 44% (up 8 points since May); choosing destinations close to home – 44% (up 5 points since June); reducing spend on: retail purchases – 38% (up 5 points since May); entertainment & recreation – 36% (up 6 points since June); food & beverage – 28% (up 6 points since May); and lodging – 22% (up 5 points since June). However, there is a silver lining: Only 7% are canceling current travel plans.

Despite the ongoing workforce shortage in the tourism & hospitality sector, customer service expectations remain high with 52% expecting the same level of service as before the pandemic (up 7 points since January). Although fewer are expecting better service than pre-pandemic (28% - down 8 points since January). Does this mean that travelers are starting to reset their service expectations a little bit?

The pandemic’s impact on travel plans continues to wane as a survey-high 43% of American Travelers now say that it no longer has any impact on their decision to travel. Finally, American travelers are beginning to shift away from remote work while away from home with 60% now saying they do not plan to work remotely while away from home. This is an increase of 11 points from last December.

In addition to traditional research methods, Visit Jackson also works with visitation intelligence platforms to capture real-time traffic into the city. This data captures visitors through smart phone applications and can track points of interest, length of stay, origin markets, and many other valuable intel. Layering this data on top of Visit Jackson’s Google Analytics and media attribution determines future strategies for marketing and sales efforts.

Meteorologist Edward Lorenz’s chaos theory, The Butterfly Effect continues to be the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a slight change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in significant differences in a later state. In short, to protect Mississippi’s hospitality and its tourism industry, Visit Jackson shall continue to examine data on a regular basis and it will continue to share that data and recommend best practices yielding the highest performance outcomes.

While air travel is improving, most vacations this year will be by car. In fact, the road trip is making a resurgence in the United States, especially within the Southeastern Region.

The total size of Jackson’s 2021 domestic travel market is up 4.3% over last year; 46% of those visitors represent day travelers and 54% represent overstays. The total expenditure for Jackson’s 2021 domestic travel market was reported by Longwoods at $80 Million.

According to Travel USA®, in 2020, most overnight visitors came from in-state and nearby markets, with of overnight travel to Jackson from within the state, and another came from border states. With more than 18 million people residing within a 300mile radius and the majority of visitation originating from drive markets, Jackson is in an excellent position to capitalize on the increased demand from drive markets, and recent growth in traffic to the Visit Jackson website is a strong indicator of intent to visit. And travelers are doing more than just thinking of visiting.

The overnight visitor to Jackson trended younger in 2020, with a nearly 12-point increase in those 18-24. Nationally younger travelers often went to new destinations. The emergence of a younger traveler to Jackson provides an opportunity for the city to continue to foster this segment and create repeat visitors. In addition to growing a younger travel segment, Jackson retained a large family travel segment last year, which has high spending potentials and larger travel party sizes.

Recently, hotels in Jackson have seen demand exceed 2019 levels. In comparison, the latest U.S. hotel forecast from STR and Tourism Economics is projecting it will take until 2023 before hotel demand in the U.S. has recovered wholly relative to 2019 levels. Overnight trips to Jackson are being reported to have increased by 3.7% over 2020. 79% of overnight visitors are repeat visitors and 55% of Jackson’s overnight travelers have visited the destination within the past 12 months. Demand is higher in Jackson due in part to the decrease of hotel inventory in the city.

Visit Jackson strategies will be reflective of research provided by Longwoods International, Tourism Economics, and other research partners, the executed Fiscal Year 2023 strategies will fortify opportunities

that will enhance the demand for the destination based on the interpretation of the data examined from our

visitors and client base.

AS A RESULT OF THE DATA INDICATORS SUPPORTED BY ITS 5-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN, VISIT

During Fiscal Year 2019 Visit Jackson engaged Tourism Skills Groupo to conduct a comprehensive 5-Year Strategic Planning Process. As a result of that process the following Strategic Pillars are inclusive of Visit Jackson’s 5-Year Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year 2022-2023.

EDUCATION

The most significant Visit Jackson deficiency that was identified during the Strategic Planning process was the miseducation regarding the purpose of Visit Jackson, Jackson, Mississippi’s official destination management organization. Stakeholders, specifically, local citizens, festival/event partner organizations and political partners all noted that they thought Visit Jackson’s purpose was to provide funding for events and festivals. In reality, Visit Jackson is one of the few DMOs in the nation that provides event grants.

It is the goal during the upcoming year to begin strategically educating our partners with information regarding the objectives of a DMO and how they can partner with Visit Jackson to enhance the marketing and promotion of annual events and activities, thereby impacting the quality of life for citizens and the economic vitality of the region.

Educate stakeholders regarding the purpose of a DMO/DLO.

GOALS

• Create opportunities to share programming and specific strategies with stakeholders, thereby educating them regarding the return-on-investment focus of Visit Jackson;

• Identify resources resulting in a Destination Master Plan or Destination NEXT styled platform stabilizing the foundation for destination growth for Mississippi’s Capital City;

• Provide opportunities to identify external and appropriate funding resources and partnerships to and for quailed events and activities for the Capital Region;

• Engage the education communities within the destination to establish a knowledgebase associated with the value of tourism including economic vitality and workforce initiatives

TACTICS

• Implement a tactic that has the propensity to educate the local community regarding the value of utilizing a DMO when planning events, activities, & traveling, and how Visit Jackson can help realize a more successful and fluid planning experience.

• Educate citizens regarding the value of Jackson, MS as a travel destination

• Create a partner dashboard on the Visit Jackson website

• Execute educational programming platform for public access and/or cable networks

• Execute a program where funding provided by Visit Jackson is distributed through a partnership with a stakeholder organization to support smaller community events.

• Execute a committee representative of various Visit Jackson departments that evaluates and decides on sponsorships for larger local events.

Build proponents of the Visit Jackson Community

The value of Collective Ambition has been amplified during the past year. Sharing of resources and supporting each other’s missions and goals has begun to yield results for the Capital Area Region. During the upcoming year, Visit Jackson will continue to cultivate intentional partnerships, including nontraditional alliances, continue to build value for the DLO and its stakeholders,

ADVOCACY/ COMMUNITY AWARENESS & INVOLVEMENT

positioning the destination as a more formidable market competitor.

Dedicated resources with strategic goals have been identified to strengthen the destination and its growth potential. During Fiscal Year 2023, purposeful strategies will be executed to solidify Visit Jackson as a collaboration clearinghouse fortifying its designation as a Destination Leadership Organization.

GOALS

• Position Visit Jackson as a valuable resource regarding destination management and leadership;

• Enhance the awareness and appreciative position of tourism as a viable and valuable influence for Jackson by activating strong grassroots and traditional networking strategies;

• Strengthen the relationships with municipal, state, and federal electorate illustrating the significance of tourism and impact of collective ambition among community partners;

• Engage ten community and corporate organizations within the Capital Area to build alliances and share resources;

• Relaunch the Tourism Oriented Policing Strategies (TOPS) program to promote visitor and citizen safety awareness while attending conventions, attractions, hotels, and restaurants and to build partnerships between the policing agencies and the community.

• Offer support and input to the Downtown Jackson Partners Homelessness Committee on how best to impact the homeless in the capital area.

• Relaunch the Hospitality Training Program to heighten customer service within the destination

TACTICS

• Schedule a meeting two times a year to explain to the stakeholders how vital our partnership is to the destination.

• Continue to take information packets to all new restaurants.

• Add a component to the downtown partners’ website, making the local businesses aware of the Visitors Center and the importance of Visit Jackson to the destination.

• Provide guided city-wide tours to incoming first-year students each semester to the

city’s five major colleges and universities to familiarize them with their new community.

• Monthly pitch campaigns targeting local media outlets

• Execute annual Hometown Hero program

• Develop and activate Speaker’s Bureau

• Collaborate with local universities and colleges to produce a Tourism Job Fair in 2023

• Continue and grow the My City Young Ambassador Program in partnership with Jackson elementary schools

TOURISM PARTNERSHIPS

Travel Industry Partnerships & Cooperative Initiatives

Jackson, Mississippi is the Capital City of the state of Mississippi. Its geographical location is unique because it’s in the center of the state and the center of the Capital Region. The ability to host conventions, meetings, and events in the Capital City utilizing larger meeting and event space is fortified by the availability to encompass brand lodging, dining, and shopping partnerships with its surrounding bedroom communities.

GOALS

• Continue to establish opportunities associated with CATA and other regional tourism efforts and marketability;

• Establish creative and innovative collaborations resulting in industry coalitions with positive image and demand solutions.

• Explore and create collaborations outside of the traditional tourism industry with the propensity to strengthen the destination holistically.

• Secure non-traditional partnerships to minimize the cost of local event transportation, and to promote transportation offerings to locals and visitors.

• Increase Jackson’s visibility based on the demographics of the airport by managing the information area and driving travelers to focus on hotels, restaurants, and attractions in Jackson

• Continue to host and grow the annual Capital Area Tourism Summit

TACTICS

• Execute programming resulting in the strengthening of its alliance with the Capital Area Tourism Association (CATA) positing the Capital Region as a destination city.

• Craft a marketing strategy enhancing opportunities to the demand for the Capital Area as a meeting, convention, and sporting destination;

• Develop and submit a membership platform considering establishing marketing opportunities and resource expansion to the Visit Jackson Board of Directors;

• Create a transportation partnership between Jackson State University, Smith Wills Stadium, and the Department of Transportation Mobility drivers to provide enhanced transportation options for sporting events.

• Partner with JTRAN, Amtrak, and Greyhound providing transportation information on the Visit Jackson website, as well as beautification opportunities.

• Partner with Jackson Municipal Airport Authority to promote Jackson hotels, attractions, and restaurants

• Set up information booths for qualifying events at Baggage Claims

• Manage the Information area at JMAA five days a week

• Create new branding markers across Jackson’s major venues

• Increase marketing opportunities for Jackson attractions to supplement advertising budgets

• Continue to work with the Mississippi Destination Marketing Organization on lobbying efforts

• Develop strategies for future implementation of a Jackson Sports Commission

• Continue ongoing partnerships with community organizations that focus on marginalized groups, including but not limited to the Human Rights Campaign of Mississippi, unhoused organizations, and local Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion groups.

tourism for the destination

The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic has amplified Jackson’s positing as an outdoor and leisure destination. During the past year, Visit Jackson shifted its marketing strategy to include leisure as a primary vertical market.

Visit Jackson is committed to tourism development that creates a positive experience for locals, businesses, and tourists. During Fiscal Year 2023, we will implement comprehensive programs focused on improving the quality of life for local residents without compromising the future wellbeing of our citizens and our environment. Visit Jackson is committed to becoming a leader in the area of sustainable tourism development.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Create additional strategies to increase/ develop/encourage

GOALS

• Create additional strategies to increase/develop/encourage tourism for the destination

• Implement comprehensive programs focused on improving the quality of life for residents through sustainable tourism initiatives.

• Partner with stakeholders (attractions, meeting facilities, and local restaurants) to increase hotel stays from the local and drive-market to help maintain a thriving tourism and hospitality job market.

• Research partnerships with hotel investors.

TACTICS

• Work with electorate to identify federal, state, and corporate funding to positively impact the Jackson tourism assets and product and its marketability;

• Identify projects that have the propensity to strengthen the destinations attract-ability and product pool;

• Identify projects that enhance sustainability tourism initiatives with a reduced impact and dependability on external environmental and public health factors;

• Create hotel and attraction packages to promote internation visitation.

DESTINATION DEMAND

Heighten Demand for the Destination

The research results indicate that, because of the Global Pandemic, visitors are excited to get out and travel after being restricted for so long. However, they are more inclined to travel safely, traveling by automobile and staying closer to home, a 300mile radius from Jackson. Visit Jackson will capitalize on the research indicators and aggressively promote Mississippi’s Capital City visitation to Mississippians and those within the Southeastern Region of the United States.

Traffic to the destination website has increased by over 140% since the new site launched at the beginning of the year. Additionally, the session duration has increased 55% and organic site traffic has increased by triple digits. Interest to the destination has never been higher.

More specifically, though, Civil Rights related content is receiving the highest engagement. Website data suggests that museums, events, and celebrations connected to the freedom movement outperform all of the other destination pillars for Jackson, MS.

Furthermore, visitors to Jackson that stop by the Civil Rights and Black History sites stay longer, drive from further away, and have more overnight trips.

An Unprecedented Opportunity

In 2020, funds provided to DMOs across the state through the COVID-related Tourism Relief Fund (TRF) provided an unprecedented level of resources to destinations large and small. Visit Jackson was no exception. DMOs now are poised for a second round of relief funding (TRF2) to be allocated in early 2023, with a possible third round (TRF3) to be allocated sometime in late 2023.

The TRF program opens the opportunity for Visit Jackson to produce new marketing assets, open new media markets, and bolster media presence in important legacy markets. Early results from the original TRF campaign showed promise. With a new strategic focus and media allocation strategy, Visit Jackson is poised to make a historically successful impact. This plan provides a guiding roadmap to ensure that this potential is realized.

Guiding Principals

Focus on the destination’s strengths. Jackson possesses many hospitality assets that stretch across the destinations “pillars.” These include arts, culture, and literature; and culinary, nightlife/music. Attractions, assets, and businesses associated with these pillars are competitive with other regional destinations, but not proprietary to Jackson. The area in which Jackson shines is by being a ground zero for the Civil Rights/Freedom movement in America. Historical locations, exhibits and events, coupled with a truly world class Civil Rights museum, allow Jackson to own the space in the region. The freedom movement also permeates many of the other tourism pillars previously mentioned. For these reasons, Civil Rights has been identified as Jackson’s strongest and most proprietary destination marketing asset. This plan focuses on utilizing Jackson’s Civil Rights assets as the leading decision driver for destination marketing moving forward.

Continue to invest in established branding. “The City With Soul” messaging that supports Visit Jackson is over a decade old and has gained significant equity. Businesses in the city have adopted it, and even outside thirdparty advertisers have utilized the messaging to promote their products to area consumers. The messaging also aligns will with the “Civil Rights First” strategy that is being implemented. Over the next few years, Visit Jackson will further invest in promoting and strengthening the concept of “The City With Soul.”

Activation: A Phased Approach

The phased approach described here is based on 1) the receipt of TRF2 funds during the current fiscal year and 2) the potential for additional legislated subsidies in the following years.

Phase 1 — Drive Markets. The initial phase will focus on implementation of the strategy in mainly legacy drive markets outside of Mississippi with a percentage of African American residents. These markets are:

• New Orleans

• Monroe

• Shreveport

• Birmingham

• Montgomery

• Memphis

Budget depending, secondary markets would include:

• Baton Rouge

• Mobile

Redeploy most marketing resources among out of state markets. Prior to this strategic plan, Visit Jackson invested significant resources on an image building campaign locally in Jackson metropolitan area (with a focus on suburbs of Jackson), and in other in-state feeder markets. This effort resulted in limited success. Due to circumstances out of the control of Visit Jackson and relentless negative media coverage of the city in-state, Visit Jackson will reallocate the bulk of resources to focus on generating visitors from out of state markets. Markets with a high percentage of black population who traditionally demonstrate an interest in Civil Rights and the freedom movement will be a focus of outreach efforts. These markets are listed in the following section.

This phase will lean heavily on digital platforms: OTT streaming, display, pre-roll, with additional support from targeted cable television and audio. For markets with applicable city-focused print publications, print ads will be incorporated.

Visit Jackson’s influencer campaign will also be adapted to reflect the strategy in this phase.

Phase 2—Expansion.

Phase 2 maybe wholly or partially dependent on garnering additional resources, either through an organically increased marketing budget or more likely through another round of tourism relief funding (TRF3). The main focus of Phase 2 will be to expand paid media messaging and exposure in larger cities with a high percentage of African-American population. In addition to maintaining a presence in the markets listed for Phase 1, Phase 2 will expand to:

Marketing Tactics

These are potential marketing tactics that align with the Civil Rights strategy. The objective of these tactics is to position Jackson holistically as a true Civil Rights destination, not just confined to the city’s Civil Rights museums.

• Develop a sub-tagline that is used in conjunction with “City With Soul” that is direct reference to the Freedom Movement.

• Produce a longer-format video series based on a narrative of Jackson-based Civil Rights heroes and events of notes. Tie the series into existing attractions, restaurants, and other applicable assets/events.

• Develop a content calendar for TikTok, IG reels, and other social media that focuses on Civil Rights first messaging. Incorporate other attractions, restaurants, and other applicable assets/events as can be related to the campaign.

• Initiate a PR-push to engage applicable media writers and bloggers to position Jackson as a “ground zero” for the Freedom Movement.

• Adapt influencer marketing efforts to strongly reflect Civil Rights assets.

• Develop a paid media strategy focusing on markets with populations likely interested in Civil Rights tourism.

• Develop and implement digital assets related to the Freedom Movement with interactive elements (quizzes, maps, etc.).

• Chicago

• Detroit

• Baltimore

• Atlanta

Assets created for Phase 1 will be repurposed for this expansion. New assets may be created as needed.

• Develop an official designation for travelers interested in the Freedom Movement and support with available merchandise, prizes, etc.

• Interactive collateral piece providing narrative of Jackson’s role in the Freedom Movement.

• Engagement with applicable local establishments, particularly restaurants, to feature certain dishes and/or beverages associated with the Civil Rights movement.

Incorporating DEI aspects into meetings and conventions. Visit Jackson will proactively work with meeting and convention planners to incorporate a DEI aspect into their respective events (assuming the event is open to such). For many corporations, this will help to boost their internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and position Visit Jackson as a valuable resource. This effort could take many forms including programming, tours, informative talks, etc.

During the upcoming Fiscal year Visit Jackson’s Sales Team will utilize data-driven research in a much more substantial manner to heighten the position of the of the destination, focusing on the following market segments:

GOALS

• Investigate nontraditional sales strategies resulting in an enhanced industry business base;

• Engage the business and community to identify new business prospects;

• Identify educational opportunities to share data utilization resulting in enhanced sales opportunities;

• Develop strategies that will yield an increase in meeting planner connections and experiences within key markets.

• Increase opportunities for partners to interact with meeting planners and highlight their venues.

• Enhance Jackson’s tour offerings

• Showcase how vital the outreach of the Visitors Center is to the tourist when planning a trip to a perspective destination

• Enhance Service Amenities

TACTICS

• Continue to work with hotel partners to increase hotel occupancy

• Continue to work with hotel partners to increase hotel Average Daily Rate

• Host local meeting planner FAM

• Host 6 mini day FAM’s for local companies

• Sponsor two client events at two national trade shows

• Survey our hotel partners and have them share their top three markets of preference to assist us with planning and implementing customer/event engagements.

ADDITIONAL SALES & MARKETING TACTICS

The JSU Effect

• The resurgence of Jackson State University’s football program continues to have a huge economic impact on the Capital City. Equally important, though, national attention is on the City With Soul now more than ever. Deion Sanders, Coach Prime, used his influence to spotlight Jackson, both the good and bad.

• Visit Jackson has an opportunity now to partner with JSU and their new coach to showcase all the positive things happening. Jackson for their.

JXN Restaurants Win Back

The Community

• Overall, restaurants have it hard, especially since the pandemic. Staff shortages and higher food costs have crippled the industry. Specifically, though, Jackson restaurants have it even harder. In addition to crime issues and the suburbs opening more and more restaurants, the 2022 water crisis added to an already dire situation for our local establishments.

• A multi-media campaign to win back customers was deployed in late 2022, producing positive results. Any community, but especially Jackson, cannot afford to lose some of its most valuable assets –restauranteurs and chefs – who truly give Jackson a sense of place.

• Advertising to the entire metro area will put a much-needed positive light on Jackson’s culinary institutions. Visit Jackson anticipates producing more campaigns in 2023.

Museum District Renaissance

• All great cities have public spaces that provide a high quality of life for residents and visitors. Jackson has many spaces but plans are in the works for even more and in one concentrated area of the city.

• The LeFleur’s Bluff Education and Tourism Complex is now home to a 30,000 square foot playground at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park. Work continues as a much bigger expansion is in place – a new golf course, 3D archery, pickleball botanical gardens, and much. Furthermore, a pedestrian bridge connecting the entire LeFleur’s Museum District will make this area a true destination driver for the Capital City.

• Visit Jackson will support marketing and advertising messages focused on the growth and expansion of this area of the city.

• Visit Jackson will also heavily market this space to groups and leisure travelers.

ACTIVITIES

MTA Governor’s Conference on Tourism

Mississippi Municipal League Mid-Winter Conference

Creative Works Conference

Mississippi Society of Association Executives Fall Conference

National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals Tradeshow Travel South USA International

Alabama Bus Association Show Visit Jackson Hometown Hero/ Sumitt Awards

Destinations

CALENDAR

Budgeted Statement of Revenues and Expense Allocation by Category

For the Twelve Months Ending September 30, 2022 & For the Twelve Months Ending September 30, 2023

FY 2022 FY 2023

REVENUES TOTAL 4,209,500 3,800,000

Collections 3,700,000 3,700,000

Partnerships & Other 42,500 60,000

Transfer from Reserve 467,000 40,000

PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES

3,401,638 2,669,644

T&E 189,500 185,000 Merchandise 86,000 85,000

Advertising 475,000 195,000 Branding 265,000 106,000 Design/Production 275,000 84,000 Website 49,000 38,000

FAMS/Site Visits 21,000 64,000 Hosting 50,000 36,500 Blitz - 46,500

Booth Space - 11,000 Promotional Materials 65,000 40,500 Research 65,000 22,300 Business Promotion 5,500 88,250 Engagement 405,000 212,500 Conventions, Meeting & Event Support 165,000 308,000

Funding - 60,000 Other Promotions 15,000 86,000 Miscellanous Services & Charges 500 500

GENERAL OPERATIONS TOTAL 2,078,000 2,130,950

Capital Outlay & Supplies 11,500 49,000 Rents/Leases 149,800 Fufillment & Overhead 238,200

Staff Expenses & Benefits 1,678,500

EXPENSES TOTAL 4,209,500 3,800,000

FY 2023 Expenditures: $3,800,000 REVENUES TOTAL: $3,800,000 TRANSFER FROM THE RESERVE: $40,000

FY

308 E. Pearl Street, Suite 301 Jackson, MS 39201 1.800.354.7695 | 601.960.1827 Fax visitjackson.com