Visit Columbus: CEO shares mission of attracting people to Friendly City

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Getting people to come to the Friendly City for business or pleasure is the mission of Visit Columbus.

The organization’s CEO was sharing that mission with area business and community leaders.

Nancy Carpenter explained some of what goes into attracting conferences, tournaments, and other events to Columbus.

The job requires marketing the city to others and doing the best to represent those businesses that are here.

With 130 restaurants and over 1,200 hotel and Bed and Breakfast rooms, Carpenter said the area has a lot to offer visitors, and they are constantly working to get the word out.

“We do it through co-op programs with Visit Mississippi. We work daily with them through MDA, and we’re very eager to find out, really, ‘Who is our customer?’ ‘What is the customer looking for?’ ‘What does the customer look like?’ ‘Who wants to visit Columbus?’ So, we put a lot of work into that, and I think we do a great job of presenting what our customer’s looking for,” said Carpenter.

Carpenter will be retiring from her position when her contract is up in March, but she plans to continue working with the Tennessee Williams House and the Columbus Cultural and Heritage Foundation.

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