Anyone in the tourism industry could learn lessons from the Biltmore, the massive and beautiful Asheville, N.C., house that attracts thousands of visitors year-round.

Natchez &8212; whose history of using historic homes to lure visitors closely mirrors the Biltmore&8217;s entry into the tourism market &8212; may have more to gain than anyone else.

For the Biltmore, the recipe has been simple &8212; and the work long and hard.

Our own tourism industry could benefit from some of those lessons.

We need strong leadership in tourism, more money for marketing, better outreach on Web sites and activities that appeal to a wide variety of visitors, especially families.

Already we have new ideas and new opportunities.

A November living history tour, which took visitors to three locations and showed them how people lived, not just where they lived, can be just the beginning.

Expanding beyond antebellum houses, which will always be our bread and butter, to include outdoors and children&8217;s activities, will also broaden our appeal.

But chief among our tourism needs is leadership &8212; leadership that understands how important tourism is to our economy and can lobby for the money necessary to market the industry.

It can be done. Asheville&8217;s Biltmore is just one example. We can build on our success to make tourism an even more prosperous industry that benefits our entire community.