Visit Jackson could soon be playing a greater role in bringing events to the Jackson Convention Complex, thanks to a bill passed this year reauthorizing the agency’s tourism tax.
Recently, lawmakers approved HB 1706, which makes several changes to the boards governing both the Jackson Convention Complex and Visit Jackson, the agency formerly known as the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Among changes, the president of Visit Jackson will serve as a non-voting member of the Capital City Convention Center Commission, while the general manager of the convention center will serve as a non-voting member on the Visit Jackson board.
Also, the two boards will share a member appointed by the mayor to represent the city’s hospitality industry.
The measure also reauthorizes the bureau’s funding source, a one-percent tax on hotels and restaurants through 2022.
The law takes effect July 1. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba had not made an appointment to the boards at press time.
The move comes following the release of a report citing Visit Jackson in a number of areas, and as the convention center struggles to bring in business.
Visit Jackson President and CEO Rickey Thigpen supports the changes, saying they will help his agency and the convention center better plan sales and marketing strategies, as well as potentially share resources to bring in new business.
“What it means is there will be continuity between the two agencies. We had already begun working on that process, but now it’s supported by state statute,” he said. The hoteliers and restaurateurs will bring their perspective, and the president and general manager will bring an upper-level perspective.
“It’s a win-win for both organizations.”
Late last year, the Mississippi Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) released a report critical of the bureau’s operations.
Among concerns, PEER cited the bureau for not working close enough with related groups, including convention complex management.
Several stakeholders interviewed in the report stated that Visit Jackson was “underperforming as the lead entity for tourism in Jackson.”
The study was commissioned after a PEER memo questioning bureau spending was released in early 2018. According to that document, between 2013 and 2016, Visit Jackson spent millions to host the Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival. The event lost an average of $597,000 a year, while providing little benefit for the area’s hotels, motels and restaurants.
Most of the problems cited occurred under the bureau’s previous president, Wanda Wilson.
Thigpen joined the agency in 2018. The rhythm and blues festival also was cancelled last year, with no plans to renew it.
Meanwhile, business at the convention center has continued a steady decline. The center hosted 133 events last year, down from 151 in 2017 and 223 for the 2016 fiscal year.
Recommendations from the consultants include re-evaluating Visit Jackson’s organizational structure and its allocation of resources, developing a strategic plan with measurable goals, and seeking stronger partnerships with tourism-related industries in the city, like the Jackson Convention Complex, the Mississippi State Fairgrounds and other hotels, motels and restaurants.
