The Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau recently took home two awards at a convention, including a top honor for promotion tied to the film “The Help.”
The bureau received the Tourism Promotion of the Year award for its promotion of Greenwood as a tourism destination in connection with the movie, which was filmed largely in Greenwood in 2010.
“We called ourselves the proud host to ‘The Help,’” said Paige Hunt, executive director of the bureau.
The bureau also tied with the Greenville/Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau for a 2012 Delta Region Research-in-Action Award.
The honors were given during the 2012 Mississippi Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Tunica. The conference is sponsored by the Mississippi Tourism Association and the Mississippi Development Authority’s Division of Tourism.
The Research-in-Action Award, which is given every other year, recognizes the bureau’s regular use of research and numbers in its planning and promotion, Hunt said.
“As a CVB, our job is to promote travel and tourism,” she said. “So, to win an award, that’ s what our mission is. This award, it comes from our peers.”
The depiction of fine Southern foods in “The Help” served as a natural tie-in to Greenwood’s restaurants, she said.
As a result of the film, the bureau’s website recorded an increase in traffic, as much as 85 percent in some cases, Hunt said.
Also, she said, “tax receipts during this campaign are up 5.72 percent.”
The bureau receives its funding from a 1 percent lodging and restaurant tax, and more tourists staying in Greenwood means more money for the overall economy.
Hunt has conducted 22 bus tours showing sites used in the filming of “The Help.” The bureau also developed a self-guided tour that tourists can do at their own pace.
