VisitHATTIESBURG celebrates National Tourism Week by giving back to tourism workers VisitHATTIESBURG celebrates National Tourism Week by giving back to tourism workers By Will Polston | May 5, 2021 at 5:35 PM CDT - Updated May 5 at 5:51 PM HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - VisitHATTIESBURG celebrated National Tourism Week Wednesday by honoring its tourism partners with a grab-and-go BBQ lunch event. In 2020, even though the tourism industry was lacking due to travel restrictions with COVID-19, the city of Hattiesburg alone accumulated $257 million in tourist spending over the year. According to statistics from the Bureau of Labor, Mississippi is the number one state in year-over-year tourism spending between 2019 and 2020. According to VisitHATTIESBURG Executive Director Marlo Dorsey, Hattiesburg was coming off of the largest year in Hattiesburg history when in comes to tourism in 2019.