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New Orleans port also making a comeback
The revival of New Orleans as a tourist Mecca has been going on in recent times following its decline since Hurricane Katrina seven years ago but now its port is also undergoing a major revival, according to various news reports.
The port is likely to host more than one million cruises up the Mississippi River and along the Gulf Coast this year, according to new port statistics. That would mean its cruise business is greater than it was before the hurricane.
The return late last year of three major ships from Carnival and Royal Cruise Lines is helping to drive up business, says Gary LaGrange, president and chief executive of the Port of New Orleans.
"We'll hit a million passengers for the first time ever this year,” he told USA Today.
The revival of the city and the appeal of New Orleans as a destination for cruisers made it an attractive port for cruises now returning, according to Vance Gulliksen, a Carnival spokesman.
The port has invested nearly $60 million in renovating two of its cruise ship terminals that allowed it to handle the larger ships. A third terminal is undergoing a $40 million renovation.
The New Orleans cruise industry brought in about $226 million a year and created nearly 2,800 jobs, a port study showed.
The number of passengers coming off cruises has soared from a trickle in 2006, when the first cruise ship returned to the city, to about 16,000 each day the ships dock, according to port statistics.
LaGrange says he is in discussions with other cruise lines.
By David Wilkening
David
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