New Orleans Tourism to Receive $30 Million
By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 5/1/2006
New Orleans will get $30 million in federal funding to help draw tourists and meetings back to the city.
The funds, approved by the Louisiana Recovery Authority April 19, will be distributed to the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Louisiana Office of Tourism and New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp.
"While the original request for marketing dollars was higher, this approval for $30 million is a good first step for the tourism industry," said bureau President and CEO J. Stephen Perry, who testified before the authority.
Perry added, "This is an important first step in attracting customers, the net result being billions of dollars in impact on our local economy. Tourism does not just happen; it takes investment and promotion to net results."
The tourism industry is the largest employer in the New Orleans area and the second largest industry in Louisiana. Before Hurricane Katrina, the industry employed over 85,000 people in the city alone.
The $30 million is just part of a $6.2 billion recovery package the U.S. Congress approved in December.
There will be some red tape to deal with before the money is disbursed. There must be a 60- to 100-day period for rule dissemination and public comment. Then, it must gain the approval of Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, the state Legislature and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Tourism groups are hoping all that can be fast-tracked, in which case the money will be available to boost the usually busy summer tourist season. If the approval process isn't accelerated, the earliest impact from the $30 million would be realized in the fall.
According to a bureau spokeswoman, it has not yet been determined how much of the funding package each of the four organizations would get.
In other New Orleans news, the Golf Course Superintendents Assn. of America recently reconfirmed its commitment to hold the Golf Industry Show (No. 82 on the Tradeshow Week 200) there Feb. 3-7, 2009. The show is expected to attract approximately 26,000 attendees.
