For people visiting Vicksburg for the first time, a friendly face at a local business is often their first impression of the Red Carpet City of the South — and that person is the go-to for their questions.

To increase the number of smiles and provide local businesses with tourism information, the Vicksburg Convention and Visitor’s Bureau is hosting a hospitality training familiarization tour Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to noon.

“We know that it is very important for our community to be aware of everything that Vicksburg has to offer for our visitors,” said Bill Seratt, executive director of the VCVB. “The hospitality training familiarization tour will give our community partners a full understanding of our city’s attractions so they can act as our Vicksburg brand ambassadors. We have much to be proud of in our city and it’s a great destination to promote to potential visitors.

“We would like all of our frontline workers to be able to give the 60-second elevator speech on why they love Vicksburg and why it is such a great market to visit,” he said.

During the tour, participants will be shuttled through Vicksburg and the Vicksburg National Military Park with Myra Logue, a VCVB board member and National Park Service licensed guide, leading the event.

“Every person who offers visitors a friendly smile and accurate information is an asset to our community,” Logue said in a press release.

Seratt said the event provides answers — or how to find the answers — to questions people visiting the community may have.

“If they don’t know something, it’s OK to say, ‘I don’t know, but I know how to find out,’” he said.

Attendance for the event is limited to 40 participants due to the number of seats available, and Seratt said the spaces are filling up quickly with only six still available. After this year’s event, he said he hopes to begin annually implementing the plan to correspond with National Tourism Week each May.

Kim Hopkins, executive director of Vicksburg Main Street, which helped sponsor the event, echoed Seratt’s sentiments.

“It’s kind of like being a tourist in your own town,” she said. “If we fill this one up, hopefully we can turn around and do it again.”

For more information on the free event or to see if space is available on the tour, call the bureau at 601-636-9421.