Road trip, cruising, and photo exhibition
To view in browser, click here
                                                                   
www.memphistravel.com | www.visitmississippi.org
NEWS FROM MEMPHIS & MISSISSIPPI

Memphis & Mississippi are open for business with Covid-19 protocols and social distancing in place. The vaccination roll-out is fully underway and all eligible adults are expected to be inoculated free-of-charge by the end of May. The Biden administration has hinted international travel will resume this summer with travel corridors to open between the US and Europe for vaccinated travellers. So let’s start planning that American road trip through Memphis & Mississippi.
MISSISSIPPI

Coastal Mississippi launches new Attractions Pass and Amtrak set to return in 2022

Coastal Mississippi has announced the launch of a mobile-exclusive Coastal Mississippi Attractions Pass in partnership with Bandwango, a groundbreaking destination marketing and commerce platform.

The pass is available on a mobile-exclusive platform, delivered instantly to a customer’s phone via text and email, allowing visitors and residents alike to redeem admission at attractions by presenting their delivered ticket at each participating attraction.

The Coastal Mississippi Attractions Pass is available as a 1-day, 2-day, 3-day and annual option and includes the following 10 participating attractions:

• Pascagoula River Audubon Center
• Walter Anderson Museum of Art
• Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum
• Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art
• Biloxi Lighthouse & Visitors Center
• Beauvoir – The Jefferson Davis Home & Presidential Library
• Coastal Mississippi Mardi Gras Museum
• Lynn Meadows Discovery Center
• Mississippi Aquarium
• Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum

“As health and safety remains a top priority, we are seeing increased demand for touchless technology, and this transition to a mobile-exclusive Coastal Mississippi Attractions Pass offers a safe and sustainable way for visitors to easily access some of the phenomenal experiences that The Secret Coast has to offer,” said Milton Segarra, CEO of Coastal Mississippi. “Working together is the key to bringing more visitors to Coastal Mississippi, and we look forward to a future of increased visitation, deepened partnerships and broadened horizons.”

Amtrak passenger service along the Gulf Coast is on target to return in 2022 and could come in the early part of next year, an official with the railroad company confirmed.

Marc Magliari, spokesman for Amtrak, said “we intend to begin service in 2022” that will connect New Orleans to Mobile with four stops in Mississippi – Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. It will be the first time that passenger trains have rolled along the Gulf Coast in more than 16 years
MEMPHIS

Small Cruises Thriving on the Mississippi from Memphis

Since the cruise industry shut down in March 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has blessed only cruise ships carrying fewer than 250 passengers and crew. The American Queen Steamboat Company and American Cruise Lines ships are among few of these in the U.S., making them a rare option for millions of cruise lovers who are otherwise stuck in a holding pattern.

The American Queen is already back in business with two boats—the American Countess and the smaller, 166-passenger American Duchess—both operating since mid-March with reduced capacity to allow for social distancing and comply with the 250-person limit. Its less-luxurious competitor American Cruise Lines also returned to the Mississippi on March 21 and plans to have three boats on the river in April. These include a new, modern, 190-passenger riverboat and two small paddlewheelers. All will sail at limited capacity, with a vaccine required for departures through April 30, 2021. After that, the company plans to only require negative PCR tests.

In its first few voyages carrying paying customers up and down the Mississippi, American Queen had no confirmed cases of Covid-19. That bucks a pattern of positive cases among cruise lines—including small-ship ocean lines SeaDream Yacht Club and Hurtigruten—that has loomed over the cruise industry like a dark cloud.

Business has been booming at American Queen with numbers running ahead of 2019 levels, according to John Waggoner, founder and chief executive officer. He stated the company saw significant upticks in January, on the heels of the U.S. vaccine rollout and again in February when it announced a requirement that guests, crew and even bus drivers be vaccinated for sailings, starting in July.
Outside the Lorraine: A Photographic Journey to a Sacred Place

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis presents the fine art photography exhibition, Outside the Lorraine: A Photographic Journey to a Sacred Place featuring the work of David Katzenstein. The yearlong exhibition highlights the museum as mecca for peacemakers, a place of memory and connection during the museum’s 30th anniversary.

The collection of over 90 photos in Outside the Lorraine helps visitors identify with social issues by using fine art photography to connect to the historic place, Dr. King, movement makers, and one another. Viewers are invited to see the sparkle that lies within each print that shimmers, vibrates, and introduces people to a richer experience with fine art photography by making each piece relatable.

The National Civil Rights Museum welcomes thousands of visitors a year each carrying an identity influenced by self and society. They bring their assumptions about the Civil Rights Movement. The courtyard is the first place where they confront those assumptions and begin to reconcile them with an alternate perspective of history. A picture tells a thousand words.

As a sacred place, the plaza holds the weight of our shared mourning. As a portal, the plaza offers each visitor a pathway to greater self-knowledge and awareness.
STAY UPDATED

To stay updated on Memphis, visit www.memphistravel.com
To stay updated on Mississippi, visit www.visitmississippi.org
Your contact for Memphis and Mississippi in Scandinavia and Finland:

Karin Gert Nielsen
CEO & Managing Director

Atlantic Link
Strandvejen 125
2900 Hellerup, Denmark

M: +45 2942 1005
E: kgn@atlanticlink.net
Atlantic Link
www.atlanticlink.net
This is a newsletter distributed by Atlantic Link on behalf of Memphis & Mississippi
If you wish to unsubscribe monthly news from Memphis & Mississippi, please click here
If you wish to unsubscribe other newsletters from Atlantic Link, manage all your subscriptions here