NATCHEZ — Individual and group sales during the Fall Pilgrimage both grew this year.

The fall half of the bi-annual tours of Natchez’s historic and antebellum houses — including private residences that aren’t normally open to the public — was officially Sept. 25 to Oct. 12.

Sales to individuals grew 7.7 percent over last year, with tickets sold to a total of 11,571 individuals, said Nikki Norman, the office administrator for Natchez Pilgrimage Tours, which coordinates ticket sales for the houses on tour.

Even though fewer groups booked group tours — 28 in total — those groups tended to be larger and spent more money, pushing group sales up 6 percent, Norman said.

“We had one group of 47 people that spent $10,000,” she said.

Norman said she believed growth this year was driven in part by the marketing that is being done on the front end of Natchez’s Tricentennial celebration.

Natchez Pilgrimage Tours board member Regina Charboneau said some factors such as good weather and the addition of Choctaw to the tours helped push sales, but NPT has made some changes that helped with sales.

“This year we had a tent in the lobby of the Convention and Visitors Bureau with volunteers, and staff from NPT had the chance to be able to talk to people about what is going on, to pre-sell tickets, and I think that was really the boost in individual sales,” she said.

“Every year it grows a little bit, not by leaps and bounds, but it is inching up.”

The ability to purchase tickets for a three-house tour or tour selectively may have also played a role in the growth, she said.

Spring Pilgrimage is set for March 5 to April 5.