In a world filled with bad news, Selma offers some sunshine.

Tourism is up.

And why not?

We have tons of venues and friendly people. We have festivals and artists and odd places that have histories behind them.

We have our history.

But we also have to thank our tourism director Candace Johnson for capitalizing on our good side with the folks who arrange tours throughout the state. She has worked hard to put together “trips” for those decision makers, and those “trips” have impressed them.

That’s why you’ll see a few more tour buses pulling into downtown.

But attracting visitors to Selma isn’t Johnson’s job to handle alone. We all should take part in getting folks to come visit.

We need to clean up the place. We need to put on our best customer service, no matter the day or how badly we feel. We need to treat each person as a guest, rolling out the red carpet, even when they stop to ask for directions.

Our tourism director has gotten us some national and regional attention.

Let’s help her our by cleaning up our city and honing our manners.