Arkansas
An Image Makeover
Arkansas may have struggled with perception problems throughout the mid-20th century, but events in the ’90s changed all of that.
“Fifty years ago, Arkansas tourism was struggling,” said Arkansas tourism director Joe David Rice. “Our product base was struggling, and we were suffering with a severe image problem. People still associated Arkansas with the Little Rock integration crisis, and that’s really hard to battle.
“When Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, it essentially gave Arkansas a clean slate. And his decision to place his presidential library in downtown Little Rock really started a renaissance in central Arkansas. More than $2.5 billion have been invested in the area since Clinton made that announcement, and tourism expenditures have increased 70 percent since the library opened.”
Also, in the 1990s, the state passed a new sales tax, 45 percent of which goes to the state parks system. As a result, the parks service was able to build Mount Magazine State Park, a $35 million park on top of the state’s highest mountain, and to make significant improvements to places like Crater of Diamonds State Park.
More recent developments continue to raise the state’s profile. The expansive Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened in Bentonville in 2011 and has attracted more than 1.5 million visitors. Two new national parks facilities have opened at sites related to Bill Clinton’s early life, and the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home opened last year in northeast Arkansas.
Mississippi
Growing By Leaps and Bounds
A consistent, intentional tourism promotion effort didn’t develop in Mississippi until the late 1970s, and most of the state’s convention and visitors bureaus didn’t open until the late ’80s or early ’90s. But in the short time that the efforts have been underway, they’ve made a sizable impact on the state.
“Tourism is a very young industry here in Mississippi,” said Paige Hunt, tourism communications bureau manager for Visit Mississippi. “Marketing on a cohesive level is a fairly new animal for us, and it has added to our growth.
“In the past 20 years, we’ve seen travel expenditures by visitors grow by leaps and bounds. In 1993, visitors spent $2.5 billion in our state. In 2013, they spent $6.25 billion.”
Hunt said that much of this growth can be attributed to the state’s booming gaming industry, which began when the first casino opened in 1994. Gaming has brought visitors to destinations on the Gulf Coast, as well as inland cities such as Tunica, and has helped people discover some of the state’s other treasures along the way.
“Blues music was something that we didn’t talk about before — it was just music to us. But now we say that Mississippi is the birthplace of America’s music. In the Mississippi Delta, Clarksdale was one of the first places to own their blues heritage and promote it, and now they have people coming from all over the world.”
It’s this kind of cultural heritage, along with renowned cuisine and famous hospitality, that has helped recast the image of the South, Hunt said.
“Maybe the South hasn’t always had the best perception in the rest of the country and the world,” she said. “But by increasing travel through the South, with people seeing our wonderful amenities and our great food and amazing scenery, we’ve helped people change their perceptions.”
