Visit Meridian recognizes hospitality heroes

May 20—Visit Meridian kicked off National Travel and Tourism Week Monday by recognizing those in the community who go above and beyond to make visitors feel welcome in the Queen City.

The Hospitality Hero Awards were given to workers from local restaurants, retail stores, mixologists, attractions and hotels. A winner of the overall hospitality award was also chosen.

Visit Meridian Executive Director Laura Carmichael said her office received more than 65 nominations for this year's awards, which she plans to give annually. Choosing the winners from among the nominees wasn't easy, she said, and each person nominated was worthy of the prize.

This year's winners are:

— Stephen Thomas, of Jeans, won the restaurant category.

— David Haggard, owner of Hampton Inn Shell, Toomsuba Shell and North Hills Texaco, won the retail category.

— Christine Moore, from Hilton Garden Inn, won the mixologist category.

— Alana Sparrow Broughton, won the attractions category for her work with the Jimmie Rodgers Festival.

— Kayla Cabaniss of Accent Hospitality and Threefoot Hotel, won hotel category.

— Courtney Keith, of The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, won the overall hospitality category.

"This is the first year we've tried this, but we wanted to do something a little different to recognize all you great people out there," Carmichael said. "It was a tough job to decide. Everybody who was nominated deserves to win."

Neil Henry, regional president of Citizen National Bank and president of the Visit Meridian Board of Commissioners, said travel and tourism are big economic drivers for the local community, the state and the nation. Tourism has a $2.8 trillion impact in the United States each year, supporting more than 9.5 million jobs.

In 2023 tourism had an impact of almost $6 billion in Mississippi from more than 21 million visitors.

"That alone generated $362 million of our general fund for the state, so tourism really plays a vital role," he said.

Downtown Meridian, Carmichael said, is full of the businesses and industries that make the city's travel and tourism sector a success. From The Mississippi Children's Museum-Meridian to Weidmann's Restaurant and Harvest Grill, the Riley Center and more.

"We have so many wonderful things, and the people that come here can't get over how special Meridian really is," she said.

Visit Meridian has a number of activities planned throughout the week to highlight some of the industries that make Meridian special, Carmichael said, and everyone is invited to use National Travel and Tourism Week to celebrate the people and places that make Meridian a destination.

Contact Thomas Howard at [email protected]