Vicksburg’s deep Delta roots are gaining more exposure through efforts by the statewide blues tourism involvement of Bill Seratt, tapped as executive director of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau in April.

The city, home to blues icon Willie Dixon and once a &#8220mecca for Delta planters,” will be the starting point for a grand prize blues tour through the Delta.

The tour is a way for the Mississippi Delta Tourism Association, of which Seratt is president, to enhance its online database in order to promote the region.

&#8220We are putting our concentration on Web-based marketing to build our electronic database,” said Seratt, who has been president of MDTA for seven years. &#8220We want to be able to send e-blasts to tell about tourism offerings.”

Seratt came to Vicksburg from Greenville, where he was director for 11 years of the Greenville-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau. In addition to his role at MDTA, he is also a governor-appointed member of the Mississippi Blues Commission, as well as the Mississippi River Parkway Commission.

It’s his involvement in these organizations that is helping put Vicksburg on the map in terms of regional marketing, he said.

Vicksburg &#8220really is part of the Delta, and it’s given our partners to the north of us more knowledge of that,” he said. &#8220We’ve never been known as a music or a blues town. It’s really important for this board of directors to jump in to be partners (with opportunities, such as) the Mississippi Blues Trail.”

Dixon was the first in Vicksburg to be honored with a blues trail marker. The ceremony, celebrated here June 28, marked the 14th across the state to be installed by the commission to honor the state’s blues heritage.

Having an electronic database will allow MDTA to send out electronic newsletters highlighting festivals, events and new properties in the Delta region, which spans from the hills of Vicksburg to Greenville.

Visitors to the Web site, www.visitthedelta.com, will be able to register to win the contest by entering their contact information. On Aug. 31, when the contest commences, the computer will select the winner for the one-week Delta tour.

The tour, which was developed to highlight the music of the Delta, will begin with an overnight stay in Vicksburg at the Ameristar Casino, with dinner at the Bottleneck Blues Bar and a Vicksburg gift basket and passes to are attractions. The winner will then travel to Yazoo City for lunch and a town tour, before heading to Greenwood, where they will stay overnight at the Alluvian Hotel and visit Robert Johnson’s gravesite. Next on the itinerary will be lunch and a town tour of Indianola, home to the future B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. Clarksdale will be the next town on the tour for stops in popular food establishments and a night at the Big Pink Guesthouse. The tour will continue with stops in DeSoto County and Tunica and rounding out the trip will be a tour and overnight stay in Cleveland and a chance to experience the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival in Greenville.

The music-focused itinerary is one of many Seratt said can be made for the area.

&#8220You have to sell the whole area. Whether it’s music, Native American heritage, agriculture, the river or Civil Rights, there is enough in the region to build an itinerary,” Seratt said.