The City of Vicksburg approved the purchase and placement of a new tourist information kiosk at the downtown waterfront this week.

Designed to provide information for cruise boat passengers and other tourists, the kiosk will be a great way to distribute information and promote local businesses. Similar to the kiosk on Washington Street between the Cinnamon Tree and Peterson’s Gifts, the kiosk will house maps of downtown Vicksburg and its businesses with an interactive QR code and a map of the city’s Heritage Walking Trails.

As tourism increases, especially as our friends from the boats see Vicksburg for the first time, the kiosk will be an integral part of us rolling out the red carpet for them. Hopefully, the kiosk will also eliminate the sad picture that is a herd of tourists standing on the sidewalk, visibly lost as they navigate downtown.

While it is just a small component of the continued revitalization of Levee Street and the waterfront area, the addition of the kiosk sends a clear message: the development of Vicksburg’s waterfront is vital component to the success of our tourism industry.

The beauty is there, both natural beauty from the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers and artistic beauty courtesy of our waterfront murals. The bones are good — we just need to build around them.

That begins with the upcoming kiosk, paving and sidewalk projects and continues with the support of the community. Let’s keep the streets litter-free and, if you happen to see a tourist who doesn’t know which way is up, kindly offer to point them in the right direction, or at least to one of our fine local businesses for some cool air conditioning an a cold beverage in this heat.

Our cruise boat passengers will soon have more tools than ever to navigate Vicksburg. Let’s make sure the city is at its best every time they stop by.