JACKSON — A proposal to make tourism its own department in Mississippi is likely to return to the Legislature next year after falling short in 2025, supports say. 

The plan would separate Visit Mississippi —the state’s tourism division — from the Mississippi Development Authority, which handles economic and community development. It would create a standalone tourism agency with its own director — a move advocates say would give the multibillion-dollar industry more viability and flexibility. 

State Sen. Mike Thompson, R-48th District, said he and other legislators plan to reintroduce a version of the “Mississippi Tourism Reorganization Act” during the 2026 session. The original bill, SB 2573, passed both chambers earlier this year but was vetoed by Gov. Tate Reeves over budget concerns.                      

“Because Senate Bill 2573 is unaccompanied by its companion appropriations bills, I am compelled to veto it at this time,” Reeves wrote in his veto message. “It would be irresponsible to either cripple the efforts of MDA at a time when the Mississippi economy is booming or to set up the newly created Mississippi Department of Tourism to fail.”

Growing industry 

In 2024, Mississippi welcomed a record 44.2 visitors, supported by more than 130,000 jobs and generated $18.1 billion in economic impact, according to the most recent tourism report.  

Rochelle Hicks, director of Visit Mississippi, said tourism is the state’s fourth-largest industry, generating more than $1.1 billion in tax revenue for state and local government. 

Hicks said when travelers spend money on lodging, dining, shopping, entertainment and transportation, that revenue flows into local businesses and state tax coffers, helping fund public services across the state. 

Danielle Morgan, executive director of the Mississippi Tourism Association — an industry advocacy group that provides training, networking and legislative outreach for tourism professionals — said the bill would give tourism a stronger role in state government. 

“Ultimately it would make Visit Mississippi a cabinet-level position with direct access to the governor, which has been a long-term goal of the industry for many years,” Morgan said. 

She said other Southern states, including Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas, already have standalone tourism departments — and have seen success as a result. 

“It seems to be kind of an industry best practice,” she said. 

What the new bill would do 

Rochelle Hicks, director of Visit Mississippi, said the agency’s mission — to promote the state as a travel destination would not change, but the shift would give them more control over day-to-day operations currently handled by the Mississippi Development Authority. 

“The difference would just be that we would have our own internal administrative operations team such as IT, HR and accounting,” she said. 

Morgan said the move could help streamline operations and highlight the industry’s economic role. 

“There’s a lot of administrative layers right now, which can sometimes make you a little less nimble,” Morgan said. “(It would help) also just enhancing the focus of the importance of tourism to Mississippi’s economy and showing that it’s a priority for our state.” 

Morgan also pointed out that federal tourism-recovery grants that helped the state after the COVID-19 pandemic will run out soon. 

“We saw some federal funding for tourism recovery that has been tremendous, but we know that that is coming to a close in 2026,” Morgan said. “We know that we’re going to see a dip, and we want to make sure that we can continue to be strong.” 

Next steps 

Thompson said the change would not create a large new expense for taxpayers. 

“The additional cost is really pretty nominal, because you’re just taking a division out from MDA and setting up its own department,” he said. “Now there are some duplications of effort — things like procurement and IT support — but it’s really just a couple of pins at the end of the day.”

He said start-up expenses would be offset by higher tourism revenue. 

“You’ve got increased revenues from tourism that would be available to support the agency,” Thompson said. “Especially post-COVID, tourism dollars in the state of Mississippi have increased significantly, so the money’s there.” 

Morgan said much of the state’s marketing is already funded through the Tourism Dedicated Fund, a sales-tax diversion lawmakers created in 2019. 

“It’s a sales-tax diversion on hotels and restaurants. They divert a percentage of that towards the dedicated marketing fund for tourism, so much of our success is attributed to that investment because we were able to be competitive for the first time really in our state’s history,” Morgan said.  

Hicks said Visit Mississippi will continue its work regardless of the outcome but believes there is momentum for change. 

“We’re just going to keep pushing along and promoting Mississippi as a destination no matter what happens, but I do know that there is a lot of support around that statewide.”