VCVB’s new director says she’ll focus on the untapped

Published 12:00 am Friday, April 23, 2004

[4/23/04]Developing Vicksburg’s untapped resources will be her priority, the new executive director of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau said Thursday at her first formal meeting with board members who hired her.

Emy Wilkinson said she is still getting her feet on the ground, but is already excited by the many opportunities she sees.

“Right now, I can’t go 30 minutes without seeing something we need to be doing,” Wilkinson said.

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Ideas she pitched included promoting outdoor recreation activities such as bird watching, hunting and fishing; creating scenic routes through the county and promoting local Jewish and Lebanese history.

She calls her plan “product development” for Vicksburg and Warren County.

“Product development is taking the resources that your community has that haven’t been tapped into yet and making them available,” Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson had been the director of the Corinth Area Tourism Promotion Council for 7 1/2 years and was the director of tourism in Yazoo County before moving to Corinth.

She is a Vicksburg native, the daughter of the late Nat Bullard, a former Vicksburg mayor and chancery judge, and Betty Bullard, who owned Harrison House antiques and tea room.

She follows Lenore Barkley, who retired in September.

“Lenore laid a heck of a lot of groundwork and I just want to take it to the next level,” she said.

The VCVB’s mission is to promote tourism in Vicksburg and Warren County. It operates on a budget of about $850,000 annually, funded by a special tax on room rentals and restaurant and bar tabs.

The latest number shows tourism-related sales tax collections for the month of February were $61,045, up about 8 percent from the previous year.

The VCVB spends most of its budget on advertising Vicksburg as a tourism destination and designing and printing brochures for year-round use and special promotions. The agency, created by the Legislature and managed by board members appointed by city and county officials, also operates tourist information centers on Clay Street across from the Vicksburg National Military Park, in the VCVB headquarters downtown and in the visitor center at the national park.