Jennifer Chance Awarded Thomas VanHyning Research Award By Mississippi Tourism Association
October 7, 2024
The Mississippi Tourism Association (MTA) recognized the impact and accomplishments of the state’s tourism industry at the annual tourism awards program held during Governor’s Conference on Tourism at the Lake Terrace Convention Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, October 2-4, 2024. This annual educational and professional development event brought together around 200 tourism industry professionals from across the state as well as tourism partners from the surrounding region.
"Mississippi’s tourism industry continues to flourish," said Governor Tate Reeves. "Every day, more visitors are discovering the charm of our state as they are drawn in by its natural beauty and the genuine hospitality of our people. It’s no surprise why Mississippi leaves such a lasting impression with our visitors. I want to extend my gratitude to the Mississippi Tourism Association and their members for showcasing all that our state has to offer and congratulate this year’s outstanding award winners."
These awards give MTA the opportunity to recognize members who excel in various sectors of the industry. Awards were presented in 22 categories, each focusing on a different aspect of the hospitality industry or individual achievement.
This year’s recipient of the Thomas VanHyning Research Award was given to Visit Jackson’s Jennifer Chance. The Tourism Promotion Award honors a specific promotional campaign that is innovative and successful in attracting visitors to a destination, attraction, hotel, venue or event.
"We are delighted to celebrate these hardworking individuals who consistently go above and beyond for their communities and organizations. The competitiveness of these awards reflects the exceptional quality of work from our partners and highlights the strength of Mississippi’s tourism industry. It’s a privilege to collaborate with such remarkable professionals as we continue to drive growth and success in our field,” said MTA Executive Director, Danielle Morgan.
As Chief Operating Officer for Visit Jackson, Jennifer Chance has led the charge for multiple research initiatives that have helped reshape the strategic direction and data-based strategy of the agency.
Starting in 2020, when tourism agencies were barely surviving the pandemic, Jennifer Chance sought out industry bestpractices to present sound data and research to Jackson’s tourism stakeholders and develop actionable funding models and goals for the agency. The first major investment was the Destinations International Event Impact Calculator (EIC). The EIC measures an event's economic value and calculates its return on investment to local taxes. Armed with this information, Visit Jackson is now better prepared to make the case to policymakers and stakeholders for the ongoing development and growth of the events and meetings sectors.
Visit Jackson’s sponsorship and underwriting programs for meetings and events held in Jackson has transformed under Jennifer’s direction. All meeting and event planners must fill out a standard form that estimates various items, such as attendance and overnight rooms; and then Visit Jackson’s uses the EIC to calculate the funding. This industry-standard model has ensured Visit Jackson is awarding sponsor support more fairly and consistently across the industry.
The second major investment was the Symphony Intelligence Platform (SIP) by Tourism Economics. SIP is a comprehensive, interactive hub for Visit Jackson’s data sources. This platform measures sales and marketing effectiveness, tracks performance against goals, reveals actionable insights for faster decision-making, and distributes decision-ready reports to Visit Jackson’s board and stakeholders.
The initial investment made by Visit Jackson was to have one centralized source for reporting on updates of all forms of data. But, under the principal lead of Jennifer Chance, and with additional data sets added to the Tourism Economics contract, Jennifer and her team established a goals dashboard for tracking across all aspects of Visit Jackson’s sales & marketing efforts. The goals dashboard, with the support of the Tourism Economics team, is now the official strategic goal for the agency. These goals include room demand tracking, social media engagement, exposure to visit ratio for the website, repeat visitation tracking, and visitation from a 250+ mile radius.
The third area that benefitted from Jennifer’s leadership in the research discipline has been political and partnership advocacy support. The ability to soundly demonstrate to local stakeholders a comprehensive return on investment and the support of the scientific methodology associated with Visit Jackson’s strategic initiatives has continued to heighten industry respect and organizational positioning.
Finally, Jennifer’s dedication to providing principal leadership to data capturing procedures for Visit Jackson continues to be critical, ensuring that best practices and consistent processes are in place, maximizing the impact of the research technology investments.
“Ralph Marson said, ‘Excellence is not a skill; it’s an attitude.’ It is my honor to commend the Mississippi Tourism Association’s 2024 Governor’s Conference on Tourism Award Winners. Your passion and commitment to tourism, our state’s fourth-largest industry, and its collective contribution to Mississippi’s economy are fervently articulated by the impactful strategic initiatives and professionalism you execute and demonstrate daily. Thank you and your team for your unwavering passion that contributes to the transformational impact for our individual and collective Mississippi communities,” said Dr. Rickey Thigpen, 2024-2025 President of MTA.