TUPELO – Tupelo’s hospitality professionals are used to showcasing the city to tourists, but when it comes to presenting it to their peers, they plan to raise the bar.

The city, through the efforts of the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau, next month will host the 2010 Governor’s Conference on Tourism.

The Mississippi Tourism Association event is hosted by a different city each year and draws about 300 tourism professionals, including CVB staff members, hotel management, tourist attraction officials and economic developers.

The attendees will spend the three days networking with each other, seeing what Tupelo has to offer, learning about the state’s tourist attractions, getting a report about the state of the tourism industry and taking professional development classes.

The conference wraps up with MTA’s annual tourism awards, including the best CVB and the best festival.

“This is a working conference,” said Linda Elliff, sales director at the Tupelo CVB and this year’s chairwoman of the conference committee. “We have a nice time and we showcase our city, but this is a serious conference.”

The most recent host cities include Hattiesburg, Jackson and Meridian. Next year, the conference will be held on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

This is the first year Tupelo has hosted the conference in 20 years, so the pressure is on to make a good impression. Elliff has spent the past year planning for the Feb. 28-March 2 event.

“We are putting out the red carpet for these people, literally,” Elliff said.

The host city has a few responsibilities, including hosting the opening reception of the conference. The Tupelo CVB has budgeted $75,000 for its part of the conference. The money comes from a 2 percent tax on hotels, motels and restaurants.

Along with the reception, the TCVB is coordinating the Amazing Race-Tupelo, a spinoff of the popular television show that will send 10 teams in limousines to notable destinations around Tupelo. Once at the destination, the teams must complete a challenge before getting their next clue.

The Tupelo Young Professionals today will do a test run of the game to work out any kinks.

‘Where Legends Begin’

The theme this year stems from the state’s marketing message of “Mississippi: The Birthplace of America’s Music.” As a nod to Elvis Presley and the other iconic musicians from Mississippi, Elliff’s committee is focusing on “Where Legends Begin.”

“Our theme is based on not only do we have wonderful literary talent, but the musical talent that has come from our state is phenomenal,” Elliff said.

At the opening reception, Elliff hopes to give the conference attendees a taste of the celebrity treatment experienced by the famous musicians.

The invitation reads:

“The red carpet is out and the paparazzi is in town, you will want to look your finest for the Mississippi legends of sound.”

For the reception, the BancorpSouth Arena will be transformed to an “ultra lounge” with sofas, cocktail tables and multi-colored lighting.

But before partygoers get inside, they will walk a red carpet, get their pictures snapped by paparazzi, be interviewed by a camera crew and be checked off a list by bouncers manning the doors.

Their arrival will be shown inside the party on large projection screens, Elliff said, similar to television coverage of award shows.

Once inside, the tourism celebrities, as Elliff calls them, will snack on Chicken Las Vegas and samplings of other fish, pork and beef hors d’oeuvres. They’ll drink specialty cocktails such as the Tupelo Tornado and the Shake, Rattle and Roll martini.

Not wanting to leave out Tupelo’s most famous son, the CVB officials have a performance planned from a special Elvis tribute artist.

‘Elvis, Indians and Astronauts’

This year’s event will be a far cry from the conference Tupelo hosted 20 years ago at the former Ramada Inn. Elliff said the theme then was “Elvis, Indians and Astronauts.”

“They built real tepees and set them up at the convention’s conference center,” she said. “It was very unique to Tupelo at that time.”

Elliff said the conference is remembered fondly by the attendees, and she and the other CVB staffers hope to send their colleagues home with another good impression.

Said Neal McCoy, deputy director for the Tupelo CVB and an MTA board member, “We’re tourism professionals and we’re used to rolling out the red carpet for our visitors. But you really want to do it right when it’s for your peers. Each year, the cities try to outdo the previous ones.”

Contact Carlie Kollath at (662) 68-1598 or carlie.kollath@djournal.com.