The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1939-07-20
His sis sippi Measures IFS Newest Crop Tourists

'1aAnpAo md hig saEs siRcAing
- 0Unt1nem hound for worlds
0u1D III swimmer find Themselves
1lcppng nomentarily IN some
ohAded apot On . NississipH high
~ 10 be counted and question
nad1ed. rW IN cooperation With
1Ae Federal government MiSsiSsip-
p has begun the job Of checking
ne people from other states who
NE Nfssissippi's highways. An Inn
putans part Of the Mississippi
highway planning survey, the cen
S1s Of Out-of-State cars and travel
kGs VII give the first accurate
count Of the volume and the value
Of MissiSsippfs tourist trade.
The National Park Service Of the
q. S. Department of Interior last
year estimated that Mississippi's
tourist trade was worth $2l ,9O0,-
600. This was a gain of 40 per
cent over the preceding years es-
Innate Of $14 soc, 900. The MisSis-
sapp percentage gain was the
greatest of any state in the Union.
But the $21. 900, 900 estimate of
what MiSsiSsippi's tourist crop is
worth to the state is but drop in
the bucket compared with the five
billion dollar tourist industry for
the nation as a whole. Starting at
the bottom of the list, Mississippi
Is increasing the value of its travel !
industry faster than any other
state; but the prospects for the fa-
tuBe seem even brighter.
Released here for the first time
are figures gathered from various
state departments showing the ef-
feet of Mississippi's tourist gains
on state revenues. They reflect a
development which today is per-
haps without parallel in the ma
ton. Less spectacular perhaps than
the Florida and California boom
Of recent years, the Mississippi
development reflected in these fig
uFes is nevertheless so striking as
to warrant the prediction that Mis-
sissippi win become the new big
name in vacations, increasing ten,
twenty, even thirty-fold the pres
ent worth of it's travel industry.
In her newest crop-tourists-
Mississippi may find one real an
swer to the economic problem ere
a$ed BY the uncertainty now affect
ing her traditional crop of cotton.
The seed bed for the tourist
crop Of future years Is rapidly be-
ing prepared. New through high
ways, ranking with the best In the
land, are inviting travel where
Mississippi's roads once repelled
it. The rich virgin soil Of an un-
standardized and uniquely pictur-
esuue culture combines with one
Of the nations longest climatic
growing seasons" for tourists.
Since September 1896 the state has
been sowing seed for the new crop
IN the form Of judicious tourist
publicity and advertising, both pat
termed after and improving upon
campaigns thoroughly tested in
other states.
To some extent, the tourist crop
thus developed from seed sown In
. carefully prepared field will be
q perennial crop, reseeding itself
from wear to year. But 1t Is inter-
esting to measure the amazing
growth of the crop in the last three
seasons from the seed sown by the
advertising campaigns.
Like other crops the travel in
dustry in Mississippi reaches its
peak in the summer months. But
for out-of-state tourists the early
spring months are the season. The
Advertising Commission has rec
ognized that for out-of-state tour
lists it should concentrate its adver-
Using in the fall and winter to
bring tourists In the early spring.
The months from January through
April are probably the months
which show the greatest percen-
tage of out-of-state cars using Mis-
sissippi highways. 1t IS significant
therefore to compare the total gas
oline and Oil tax receipts for the
first four months of the past fiv
years.
Such comparison was graphee
on 20-foOt long display boar,
for the recent State Press Asso