• All beaches stretching from Biloxi to Long Beach Harbor are now open, and the Harrison County Board of Supervisors hopes to have all portions of Harrison County beaches open by July 4 weekend (source)
• Hancock County has opened the beaches east of Washington Street Pier (source)
• Jackson County beaches are open at this time 
• Several piers throughout Harrison County are closed for repairs (source)
• Ship Island is currently closed for repairs (source)

• Only 69% of American travelers say they are changing their travel plans because of the coronavirus pandemic, down from a peak of 85% on April 8 and the lowest level since mid-March.  
• The percentage of Americans travelers who say the pandemic has greatly impacted their travel plans in the next six months continues to decline, from a peak of 67% of travelers on April 1 to 46% in the most recent survey, the lowest level since March 11.
• Almost half of those surveyed (44%) would feel safe dining in local restaurants and shopping at local stores, up from 31% on May 13.
• According to the survey, travelers are more likely to support tourism businesses which demonstrate a clear, thorough cleaning and hygiene plan (43%), which test staff and the use of PPE by staff (34%), and those that have controls on social distancing at the business (34%). 

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Coastal Mississippi has supplied best practices and standards from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mississippi State Department of Health, and U.S. Travel Association to our industry partners, emphasizing the importance of employee and visitor safety. As partners in the travel and tourism industry, we encourage you to adopt this destination-wide promise. 

We have received support from regional health authorities as we work to ensure the best practices in health and safety are provided to you, our partners. We will continue to share updates with you as our promise unfolds. 

Thank you to our health partners for your support! 

Coastal Mississippi is here to support our partners in the tourism and hospitality industry in their efforts as we rise up to our challenges together. We thank every single member of this wonderful community for everything they do to make our beautiful Secret Coast so special, and we truly believe that our strong community will emerge from this with an unmatched power to heal and rebuild together. 

Milton Segarra, CDME
Coastal Mississippi CEO

Vote each day on multiple platforms/browsers until June 29 at 11 a.m. 
Photo courtesy of Ellis Anderson

COVID-19 Business Readiness Resources

We encourage you to continue leaning on the expert guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Mississippi State Department of Health as you welcome visitors to your place of business. 

The following COVID-19 business readiness resources can be found on our COVID-19 Business Readiness Page:

• PETERMAYER’s Travel Research COVID 3rd Wave results
• Frequently Asked Questions Template (editable for your business)
  • This can be printed to leave in hotel rooms or provided to visitors upon arrival, can be used in email and phone correspondence with guests/visitors, and can be a helpful guide for social media responses.
• Sample social media messaging
• Sample email newsletter language
• Sample website alert messaging