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Louisiana seeking $1 billion to bring back tourists
The hurricane-devastated state is asking the federal government for $1 billion to revive its “cultural economy,” which includes tourism, the arts, parks and museums.
Said Angele Davis, secretary for Louisiana’s department of culture, recreation and tourism:
“We need tourism to recover quickly.”
The tourism and services industry is a $5 billion a year business.
After health care, tourism is the state’s largest industry.
Each day without tourism, the city of New Orleans alone loses $15 million in traveler’s spending.
Despite that, “The Historic French Quarter and nearly all of the hospitality infrastructure survived Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath surprisingly well,” according to the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau.
An update:
- The Louis Armstrong International Airport is now open for commercial flights.
- The Port of New Orleans has also opened to normal cargo traffic.
- Power has been restored to most of the central business district, as well as the French Quarter and uptown.
- Some restaurants and bars have already opened. “Many more are expected to be open for business in the next two to three weeks.” By year’s end, virtually all restaurants and clubs should be re-opened, according to estimates.
- Many hotels will be back in operation within weeks. Estimates are that 80% of the city’s 38,000 hotel rooms will be open by the end of this month.
- The CVB office is working out of Baton Rouge. Its international office is doing business as usual.
- A scaled down Mardi Gras is now planned for 28 February.
- No exact date has been set for visitors, but the CVB predicts a formal welcome home ceremony will be held 1 January of next year.
Business is also back to normal at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, which was a temporarily a major relief center.
Report by David Wilkening
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