NATCHEZ &045;&045; Despite a double-digit decline in group bus tours, ticket sales for antebellum house tours during Spring Pilgrimage were still up slightly from the prior year, John Saleeby of Natchez Pilgrimage Tours said Friday.

In all, group bus tours were down 10 percent, but individual tours were up 15 percent, said Saleeby, NPT’s marketing director.

In 2004, the event saw an overall increase of 7 percent in ticket sales &045;&045; but it would have been significantly more if rainy weather and a later Easter hadn’t kept tourists away, Saleeby said.

The good news, he said, is that compared to those soggy weeks, this year’s Spring Pilgrimage was sure to be up by comparison, even given this year’s high gas prices.

&uot;The last two weeks of last year’s (Spring Pilgrimage) were so horrible that we had to have a good shot at increasing those numbers this year,&uot; he said.

Spring Pilgrimage, featuring antebellum house tours and other entertainments, is one of Natchez’s biggest and longest-running tourism events. Along with the annual Fall Pilgrimage, it attracts thousands of tourists to the area each year.