Recognition Abounds in Holly Springs!

 

(Holly Springs has been featured in the US & Canada edition every printing)

 

The last five years have flown by for me considerably. New to the area, and state, I had a lot to learn but fell in love with Holly Springs as many others have over the years. In reflecting I realized just how many people see our bright future and help us in celebrating our uniqueness. We have received praise and recognition from organizations and publications such as Mississippi Magazine who has spotlighted us many times in articles as well as named us “Best Off-Beat Destination” for Graceland Too both in 2007 and 2009. They have also recently recognized Court Square Inn as one of the “Best Bed & Breakfast” in the state and the entire town as one of Mississippi’s “Best Day Trip” in 2010 and 2011!

Even Garden & Gun Magazine fell in love with us this year and named us one of the “South’s Most Creative Small Towns” for our unique blend of Hill Country Blues, among other things.

Lots of organizations have also noticed us such as the Mississippi Tourism Association who named us “Best Small Tourism Bureau of the Year” in 2008 and 2011. The Southeast Tourism Society has named the Hummingbird Migration Celebration and the Christmas Home Tour in their “Top 20 Events in the Southeast” which appeared in countless publications including Better Homes and Gardens!

In 2009 we were recognized by Governor Hailey Barbour as the “Cultural Corner” of the Hills region, also we were named “Customer Service of the Year” by the Byhalia Area Chamber of Commerce in 2010 and last year we received the “Promotion of the Arts Award” by the Holly Springs Main Street Association. Our most recent accolades came from the American Bus Association who named the Spring Pilgrimage of Homes as one of the “Top 100 Events in the U.S.”

Here at the tourism bureau we have also worked on very exciting projects. Just recently we completed an audio tour that has opened a host of new avenues for us to promote Holly Springs. The tour can be downloaded directly through our website www.visithollysprings.com or visitors can pick up a CD at the tourism office. Soon it will be able to be downloaded directly to your smart phone through our mobile site. As the digital world explodes, we hope to offer additional tours in the future on various topics such as Civil Rights, Hill Country Blues and the Civil War.

It has been an exciting 5 years and I can’t wait to see what the next 5 holds. For more information on things to do in Holly Springs, go to www.visithollyspringscom, call 888-687-4765, or stop in to see us at 148 E. College Avenue.

Other publications we have been featured in:

 

Holly Springs Receives Small CVB of the Year!

 

The Holly Springs Tourism and Recreation Bureau was presented with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau of the Year award for an organization with a budget less than $250,000 by the Mississippi Tourism Association (MTA). The award was given at MTAs annual awards ceremony for tourism achievement during the Mississippi Governor’s Conference on Tourism, held in Biloxi, Mississippi on September 26-27.

“We are very excited and honored to receive this award” said Stephanie McKinney, Executive Director of the Holly Springs Tourism Bureau. “The honor is a tribute to the hard work and support of our board of directors, community leaders, city council and everyday citizens that make the town of Holly Springs such a wonderful place to visit.”

The awards program recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of tourism by members of the 450+ member private sector organization as well as honoring travel media, community volunteers and governmental friends of the industry. Awards were presented in ten categories, each focusing on a different aspect of the hospitality industry or individual achievement.

“We feel it is important to give special recognition to Convention and Visitors Bureaus with smaller budgets for their outstanding accomplishments, and Holly Springs has proven to be a valuable asset to the tourism industry,” said Neal McCoy, Director of the of the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau and President of the Mississippi Tourism Association.

The Holly Springs Tourism and Recreation Bureau was established in 1999 and is funded by a 2% hotel/motel tax and a 2% prepared food and beverage tax—of which the bureau receives half. Through those tax dollars, the bureau is working to establish Holly Springs as a vacation destination and has seen a 6% increase since the previous year.

“Our primary goal is to bring visitors into our hotels, stores, restaurants and our attractions, and encourage them to spend money in our community,” said McKinney. “We primarily target potential visitors outside of a 100-mile radius—those who will need a place to stay and will hopefully eat at two or three of our restaurants, as opposed to day-trip visitors who will spend less time and money in the community. It is becoming increasingly difficult to reach that market on limited funds so we have looked into more creative ways, often free ways, to get a little extra attention. We have received great feedback from our new website and just recently launched a new audio tour which is now available on our website. We have also established a well followed Facebook page and are working on a self-guided tour of Hill Crest Cemetery. We’ve got lots of exciting things happening and much more to come!”

For more information on the Holly Springs Tourism and Recreation Bureau and things to do in Holly Springs, please visit www.visithollysprings.com or give them a call at 888-687-4735.