JACKSON, Miss.—Visit Jackson President and CEO David Thigpen and his staff are dedicated to promoting tourism in Jackson, and their work has been successful thus far—but the funding his team depended on ran out on Aug. 31.
Now, Jackson City Council members are pleading with voters to approve a Nov. 3 referendum that would raise the city’s tourism tax from 1% to 2% for hotels and motels and 1% to 1.5% for restaurants in order to support the work of Thigpen’s team. Should voters approve the increase, it will generate around $2 million in additional funding per year, the Clarion Ledger reported.
“I’ve got some flak about this, even from one of the supervisors, and my question to them was… ‘When you eat in Pearl and … Clinton, you’re already paying the same tax, so why can’t we do it too?’” Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell said at the Oct. 20 city council meeting.
The average tourism tax on hotels and motels in surrounding cities hovers at about 2.6%, and at about 1.8% for restaurants—excluding Madison, which has no tourism tax. The tourism tax on hotels and motels in Pearl, Flowood and Brandon is 3%.
“(We) have had, over the past several years, an increased number of visitors that have come to Jackson, and those that have come to Jackson stay longer and longer each year,” Council Vice President Kevin Parkinson said at an Oct. 20 city council meeting. “ … That’s all thanks to what Dr. Thigpen and his colleagues are doing to do that promotion work, but that takes a little bit of resources to make happen.”
Senate Bill 3328 set the Nov. 3 referendum which proposes raising the tourism tax on hotels and motels in Jackson by 1% and raising the tourism tax on restaurants by 0.5%. The tax would be active through July 1, 2030, and 60% of Jackson voters must vote in favor for it to become law.
“We received federal funding through CARES Act funding and ARPA funding, and that’s the reason we’ve been able to do some really innovative things,” Thigpen said at the Oct. 20 meeting. “That funding ended August 31, so do we revert back to how we used to operate, or do we continue to be aggressive and bring economic vitality to the capital city? And we say that we should continue to move forward.”
If passed, the law would raise Jackson’s tourism tax for the first time since 1983, Parkinson said, before he was even born.
“I look at my wages from 1983, and if I hadn’t had a pay increase since then, there’s a problem,” City Council President Vernon Hartley said, encouraging voters to support the measure.
The tax would increase the final cost of a $10 meal in Jackson by $0.05; the final cost on a $100-per-night hotel room would increase by $1.
Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell emphasized the importance of securing this new stream of funding for Visit Jackson.
“… We need to do this to support our own economy and our own tourism,” Grizzell said. “… Tourism isn’t necessarily for us; it’s to bring people here to support our economy, and then we latch on to that. But I fully support it, and I’m trying to get all my people to get out and vote in favor.”
Success and Strategic Planning
Jackson’s ask comes on the heels of several successful years for Visit Jackson, the city council emphasized. David Thigpen’s team brought home three awards from the Mississippi Tourism Association conference this year, including best Destination Management Organization of the year.
Visit Jackson’s programs brought in an estimated additional $80 million in direct traveler spending and $23 million in tax revenue in 2025, its annual report found. It boasts a 1,400% return on operating costs in 2025, up from 1,227% in 2024.
“I think that we’re on the precipice of some really important things as a tourism development in the city of Jackson,” Jackson Mayor John Horhn said at an Oct. 13 Visit Jackson event.
The average stay length for visitors went from 1.7 days to 2.1 days between 2024 and 2025 alone, and the number of visitors from over 250 miles and over 500 miles away both increased by 6% in the same period, according to Visit Jackson’s five-year strategic plan released in October.
The tourism tax, if passed, would allow Visit Jackson to continue the work it has done over the last few years, Horhn said.
“One of the things that Jackson can distinguish itself by is its tourism development and its ability to attract visitors who come from far and wide, who get to experience … the culture of Jackson, Mississippi, not to mention the food and the good eats,” Horhn said. “I really believe that that’s our niche in this market, as far as what distinguishes Jackson from the surrounding communities—the festivals that we hold, the live entertainment, the fact that we have exciting places for the musical culture of this community—can be celebrated.”
Horhn listed off a variety of popular attractions throughout the city, and reminded potential visitors of “great events coming up in November” like the National Folk Festival, the Food and Wine Festival and the Makers Fest.
“We’re asking our residents to roughly double the tourism sales taxes … helping us to be competitive about that, because even McComb has 3% tourism tax,” Horhn said at the Oct. 13 strategic plan launch. “I’m not putting McComb down, but I’m saying much smaller communities (which) have, quite frankly, fewer offerings than we do, are having a higher percentage of their revenue … going towards tourism development. I’m hoping the voters of this community will see the merit.”
Thigpen and his team presented a five-year strategic plan to those in attendance at the Oct. 13 event, explaining what Visit Jackson sees as its biggest challenges, potential solutions and goals going forward.
But, to meet those goals, they need funding.
Complex Tourism Tax Structures
Jackson’s tourism tax structure is not as complex as some other parts of the state.
Horn Lake, for example, is subject to 1.5% tax on every overnight room rental in addition to a $2 fee per night, with an additional 2% tax for DeSoto county. That 2% county tax also applies to restaurants, with an exemption for restaurants that both earn less than $100,000 per year and do not serve alcohol, the Mississippi Department of Revenue website said.
Hattiesburg residents and tourists alike pay two separate city tourism taxes, one 2% and one 1%, at hotels and motels. The later tax applies to restaurants as well, in addition to another 1% tax. There is an additional 2% tax at restaurants and other businesses if they have a permit for on-site liquor consumption.
Harrison County—home of cities like Gulfport, Biloxi and D’Iberville—faces the highest tourism tax in Mississippi under the Mississippi Gulf Coast Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau Tax, formerly known as the Harrison Tourism Commission Tax, and the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center Tax.
The two taxes mean Mississippi Gulf Coast visitors pay a 5% tax on hotel and motel stays within Harrison County, though there is no additional tax at restaurants.
Additional Local Taxes
Jackson is one of several Mississippi cities where customers pay an extra tax that allocates funding for a specific purpose.
Some taxes are intended to pay the state back for building infrastructure projects, as is the case with Harrison County’s secondary 2% tourism tax. Cities like Florence, Flowood and Meridian have similar tax laws intended to pay back the state for local improvements.
In another Jackson example, only visitors to the Jackson Convention Center Complex are subject to taxes levied on the complex’s campus.
There is a 3% tax on gross proceeds from hotels, motels and catering on the Jackson Convention Center premises, in addition to a 1% tax on food and beverages sold by those hotels or motels, both stemming from the same law. It only applies to lodging with more than 10 units and restaurants that make at least $100,000 per year.
The convention center tax is in addition to the current 1% tourism tax. The proceeds do not go to the City of Jackson and the tax is set to end when the Jackson Convention Center Complex is paid off.
Most sales in Mississippi are subject to a 7% sales tax in addition to any local taxes, although that can vary depending on the product.
Tourism tax information for cities and counties across Mississippi can be found on the Mississippi Department of Revenue website.
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