NATCHEZ &8212; Natchez Pilgrimage Tours and antebellum house owners said they&8217;re optimistic Spring Pilgrimage numbers will do well despite a lack of group tours.

That&8217;s important, since Spring Pilgrimage is one of the area&8217;s largest annual tourist events and tourism is one of Natchez&8217;s largest industries. Tourism accounted for almost $94 million of money spent in Adams County in fiscal 2004, the latest year for which state figures are available.

While the number of house tour tickets sold so far wasn&8217;t available as of Wednesday, house owners said visitor numbers aren&8217;t up to the level of previous years. But they saw it coming, since NPT announced last month group tour bookings were down 35 percent from the previous year.

But they and Eugenie Cates, marketing director for NPT, all said they&8217;re pleased with the number of individual visitors &8212; most of whom, they said, seem to be coming from Mississippi and surrounding states.

&8220;Their marketing campaign to people within driving distance seems to be paying off,&8221; said Anne MacNeil, owner of the antebellum house Elms Court.

She was referring to a $100,000 ad campaign funded by the state, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, tourist-related businesses and owners of antebellum houses. That campaign has placed TV and radio spots in 12 large markets throughout the South.

The CVB also boosted the number of press releases it sends to travel magazines, regional media and the like touting Pilgrimage as well as local businesses tourists can visit while they&8217;re here.

NPT also produced and distributed to tour operators a computer CD on Natchez and its Pilgrimage and got as many free articles as possible in regional magazines.

&8220;It appears it&8217;s going pretty well so far, according to the (owners of) houses on tour,&8221; Cates said.

Ruth Ellen Calhoun, owner of the antebellum house Elgin, said she&8217;s had as many as 200 people take tours of her home in one day during this Pilgrimage.

&8220;And that was during the horrible rainy weather&8221; of the last few days, Calhoun said.

Dr. Elizabeth Boggess, co-project manager and house historian for The House of Ellicott Hill, said that antebellum house has seen about 80 people per day on average.

But given the fact that the house has been closed for renovations for two years, when it opened again &8220;we didn&8217;t know what to expect,&8221; she said. &8220;We&8217;re delighted with the numbers.&8221;