VISITHATTIESBURG Launches New Tourism Website

VISITHATTIESBURG™ officially launched its new website today, which features a comprehensive listing of Hattiesburg’s restaurants, attractions, places to stay, and meeting facilities.

With fresh and relevant content, visitors are encouraged to “craft their own HBURG adventure.”

In 2016, Hattiesburg hosted more than 1.8 million visitors, including leisure and corporate travelers. The new website provides clear and concise information for existing visitors and will serve as a primary marketing tool for Hattiesburg’s tourism economy. The online tool can serve as a resource for those who live in or around the Hattiesburg area as well.

“Our new site is filled with valuable tourism information and vivid imagery to both highlight key components in our community and showcase Hattiesburg in an authentic and compelling way. The site instantly provides today’s travelers with all the relevant information they need to stay, eat, play, or meet in Hattiesburg,” Rick Taylor, executive director for Hattiesburg Tourism and Convention Commissions, said.

The site was designed around the needs and inquiries of Hattiesburg’s visitors’ and is easy to navigate. Development of the site gave high consideration to mobile users. The online tool works on multiple browsers and devices, giving access to visitors and locals at home, in the office, or on the go. Users can select targeted areas of interest in all major categories, such as hotels, local dining, outdoor adventures, or art and family attractions.

“Successful tourism communities are highly-responsive to the needs of visitors. Our new site shares Hattiesburg’s tourism offerings in an efficient way, incorporating our social media channels into the site as well. We are a growing market, and above all, we want visitors to have an outstanding experience in our community. We believe our new website will greatly enhance their Hattiesburg adventure,” Marlo Dorsey, director of marketing and communications, said.

VisitHBURG.org gives exposure to small independent coffee shops and live music venues, along with larger, more established attractions in the community. Each listing has a photo and detailed description, including an address, phone number, website, or Facebook page. Hotels have multiple photos to show not only the outside but also room views and, if applicable, meeting space options. Every item on the website is complete with a map link that provides directions to the point of interest and works easily on mobile devices.

In addition to the businesses listed, the VISITHATTIESBURG™ team will showcase and highlight local events through a calendar listing and a featured section on the homepage. Blogs, listed on the homepage, will give a more in-depth view of local happenings.

The dynamic website will have new content added regularly. VISITHATTIESBURG™’s team will continue to enhance the tool by adding additional pictures of Hattiesburg’s establishments and local events as they occur.

Explore the site at visitHBURG.org. This new site will replace the existing content on the Hattiesburg.org site as well.

In 2016, visitors spent more than $274 million in the Hattiesburg area. This spending supports more than 4,200 local jobs, 500 restaurants, 2,700 hotel rooms, and hundreds of retail locations and attractions.

Established in 1990, the Hattiesburg Tourism Commission (HTC), doing business as VISITHATTIESBURG™, is the official Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) of the City of Hattiesburg. Created to promote the Greater Hattiesburg Area and its tourism industry to potential visitors, the mission of VISITHATTIESBURG™ is to increase the economic impact of these visitors on the local economy.