Tourism professionals today are expected to do more than promote destinations. They must lead partnerships, navigate change, and translate local assets into measurable economic outcomes. Mississippi State University Extension’s Excellence in Tourism Leadership (ETL) Program was created to meet those expectations, and its graduates are helping shape tourism practice across Mississippi and the Southeast.
Tag: Southern Region
The Florida Society of Ethical Ecotourism (Florida SEE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining a professional code of ecotourism ethics in order to encourage an awareness and stewardship of Florida’s natural and cultural heritage. As such, they provide education as well as promote professionalism within Florida’s ecotourism industry through a voluntary certification and recognition program.
University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant collaborated with partners from Explore Georgia, Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Manomet and the Darien-McIntosh County Chamber of Commerce to organize and host the 2025 Coastal Georgia Tourism conference in December. This is the fifth event since 2019 that Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant has organized to convene stakeholders to learn about current issues relevant to the state’s coastal tourism sector while also strengthening local networks and opportunities for future collaborations among participants.
The Alabama-Mississippi-Tennessee Rural Tourism Conference was held Oct. 23-25 in Cleveland, Mississippi, to engage Tourism employees, city council members, elected officials and others interested in growing tourism in rural areas. Themed “Investing in Local – Transforming Rural Communities into Destinations,” the conference was coordinated by rural tourism stakeholders from the three states and representatives from Mississippi State University Extension Service.