Louisiana tourism makes a big comeback from the COVID pandemic

BATON ROUGE –  The state’s tourism industry appears to be recovering quickly from the COVID pandemic lockdowns and restrictions. Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser oversees culture, recreation and tourism in Louisiana, and says new tourism numbers show over 41-million people visited the Bayou State in 2021, which he feels is a good recovery from one of the worst events for tourism in recent history.

“We’re not back to those record-breaking years we saw before COVID. We had five consecutive record-breaking years…but it’s sure a lot better than we thought we’d be, coming out of COVID,” says Nungesser.

Louisiana tourism hit a peak in 2019, with over 53-million visitors whose spending generated near $2-billion in taxes for the state. He says to hit 41-million in a year while the pandemic was still technically going on is a serious accomplishment. Nungesser says, however, he wants to see visitors top 50-million again, “so we’ve got a lot of work to do to get back to those numbers, but we’ve got a lot of tools in our toolbox to do that.”

Nungesser says having the “Louisiana: Feed Your Soul” float appear in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was a big boon to interest in visiting our state. In 2021, visits to the “LousianaTravel.com” website were up 162-percent from the previous year.  Nungesser says, after two years of the pandemic, people are ready to get out and vacation again, and Louisiana is ready to welcome them.

“So, we’ve got a lot of tools besides the best food, music and culture…and of course the friendliest people in the world. We treat strangers like family, and they keep coming back for more.” 

Tourism is the state’s fourth-largest employer; supporting over a quarter-million jobs.

 

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