Harlan Kirgan
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser is no stranger to tourism in St. Landry Parish and on Thursday he touted his department’s initiatives in a presentation to the St. Landry Chamber of Commerce’s Lunch and Learn series.
Celeste Gomez, St. Landry Parish Tourism Commission executive director, said about Nungesser, “He’s always invested in us. He comes whenever we ask. He is always very attentive.”
One part of Nungesser’s program at the Delta Grand Theater was about “staycation,” which is a challenge for Louisiana residents to plan a vacation within the state.
“In that ‘staycation’ effort, St. Landry Parish was the featured parish for the whole quarter. That really exposes people to our area and encourages them to stay locally,” Gomez said.
Nungesser noted his office has several departments that are funded through tourism. They include libraries, parks, volunteer and museums.
“We still have a lot of work to educate the Legislature,” he said about funding the departments.
“We had a record year in tourism thanks to all of the hard work of a lot people around the state,” he said. “We have $1.8 billion taxes that were left here in Louisiana by tourism that you and I didn’t have to pay. That’s a little over a thousand dollars per household around the state.”
Nungesser said funding tourism does not rank with education, health care and roads, but “we did want to make them understand they did that if we cut tourism dollars and the tourism goes down we are going to have a bigger hole to fill...”
Nungesser outlined several areas:
— International tourist traffic to Louisiana increased 37 percent last year and is second to Michigan.
“The international visitor stays longer, spends more money and you have a better chance of getting them to see more than just one big city,” he said.
— Nungesser said he returned from a two-day tourism summit in China. Following the visit, 30 Chinese writers and bloggers visited the state.
“We will surely see an increase in Chinese visitors,” he said.
— Nine percent of everyone who visits Louisiana comes here because of something they saw on television or in a movie, he said.
The Essence Festival was the biggest ever because of “Girls Trip,” a movie about the festival, he said.
The state is receiving exposure it cannot buy with coverage from the Sugar Bowl and the follow up on New Year’s Eve celebrations in New Orleans, he said.
— Legislators approved the creation of a foundation that will help develop private initiatives at state parks and other properties, he said.
— The Ambassador program allows people to share their favorite state experience online, he said.
— State branding has changed from Pick Your Passion to Feed Your Soul.
Gomez said the average tourist spends up to $300 a day and is usually a retiree.
St. Landry Parish ranks 17th out of 64 parishes in tourist activity and Gomez attributes much of that to a culture that highlights its people, music and food.