The Miss Mississippi pageant draws an influx of tourists to the city of Vicksburg during the annual pageant week, so much so that it is often nearly impossible to find a hotel room in the city.

Occupancy rates for the estimated 2,100 hotels rooms and 85 bed and breakfast rooms in Vicksburg are expected to rise during each year’s pageant, which this year begins with contestants arriving on June 20.

Lynn Foley, the director of sales for Southern Hospitality Services LLC, is over the Courtyard by Marriott, Holiday Inn Express and the Comfort Suites in Vicksburg, thinks at least half of the rooms in Vicksburg will be occupied with pageant visitors.

“Hotel occupancy will be high the whole week with a higher number on that Wednesday and Thursday, and then the peak will be on Friday and Saturday,” Foley said.

This year the pageant’s preliminary events will begin Wednesday, June 24 and will run every night until the main event on Saturday, June 27. Contestants and their families arrive to set up their home away from home on the Saturday before the pageant, and the crew arrives on the same day to begin building the set.

The Southern Hospitality staff doesn’t have to do anything different during the week, Foley said, because they are always prepared for full occupancy. Foley believes the staff will continue to offer the same high quality services across the board.

Julie Ford, sales and marketing manager at the Vicksburg Convention Center, said the hotels don’t completely sell out the market, but that’s not a bad thing because there is room for tourists in town to visit other attractions. Although Ford said there is a definite noticeable increase in occupancy levels that can be easy to see through the economic impact on the area.

“The economic impact to the city of Vicksburg is astronomical,” Ford said.

Hotels aren’t the only business to see an upswing in traffic with gas stations and restaurants also benefitting.

According to the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, the hotel occupancy rate for July 2014 was 62.8 percent. With a vacancy rate much lower during the week of the pageant. The same month had a $3.68 million economic impact on the city.

Ford said the convention center becomes pageant central during the month of June with all hands on deck to help work on their assigned duties around the facility.

Foley said she is thrilled with the efforts of the city to host this pageant and she looks forward to getting to know the contestants and their friends and families throughout the week and sometimes longer.

“We have a lot of repeat guests come back year after year,” Foley said. “It makes you feel like you are a part of the pageant.”