Nungesser has sharp words about AG Landry’s mask mandate issue

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Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser was the guest speaker at the Chamber of Commerce of St. Landry’s Lunch and Learn in Opelousas at the Equine Center for the third annual Business of Tourism.
Nungesser spoke about the importance of tourism for the state and ways to help businesses.
Nungesser said 2019 marked four consecutive years of record-breaking with last year showing 53.2 million people visited Louisiana, spending $18.9 billion, and left behind $1.92 billion in taxes. “It’s so important for business survival, for our economy, and for our tax base to get those numbers back quickly,” he said.
Nungesser said 82% of travelers will stay close to home, which is the trend every week since the state has been shut down. This results in 7.7 million U.S. jobs that are lost in leisure and hospitality employment, which is down 40% since January.
Nungesser said Louisiana tourism had a 10% cap of their budget of which they are allowed to spend in-state. They got the legislature to remove that cap, so now they can spend as much of their budget in the state as they need. He said he is committed to promoting any Louisiana event, no matter how small.
According to Nungesser, RV sales are up 150% across the country, mostly due to the pandemic because many people are worried about how clean and sterilized hotels are. He said if they go to a state park in Louisiana and book a camping site or cabin for three nights, they can punch in the code WELCOMEBACK, and they get the fourth night free. “We had the two best weekends ever in the last two weekends in our state parks,” he said.
Nungesser said the state had record-breaking international travel, especially with the Chinese, who spend more money per visitor than any international traveler. Unfortunately, all the international marketing is shut down. Right now his office is sharing stories about Louisiana through social media to keep national and international travelers excited about Louisiana.
Nungesser also talked about bringing in rodeo events, Olympic trails, and tournaments. He said they are able to bring them to arenas and conference centers other than New Orleans. “New Orleans is going to be okay. They’re going to get their Super Bowls and their big events.”
Louisiana will be getting some new editions to the Trails and Byways with a Civil Rights Trail and a Movie Trail. Nungesser said he was surprised to find out Louisiana is the only Southern state without a Civil Rights Trail. These trails highlight landmarks in the historic Civil Rights movement.
The Movie Trail will highlight places where movies and television shows were filmed around the state. “People want to go where movies are shot,” said Nungesser. He said the film industry provided $1.3 billion in tourism benefit to Louisiana. “There’s an added incentive for them to film outside of New Orleans. If they film in small towns, they get an extra credit.” He said the state now requires them to highlight the city or town they are filming in, and another condition is that they leave a film artifact behind so that one day the state can have a museum about the industry in Louisiana.
Nungesser also talked about the state parks, saying they are improving them every day. He said they are working on private-public partnership. “If you know someone who want to go to Chicot and build 20 cabins on the lake, I’ll give you the land, you build the cabins, we’ll split it 80/20. You’ll make a bunch of money, and we’ll make a little money with 20 new beautiful cabins. If somebody wants to put one of those lazy river RV parks in the park, we’ll give you the land, give us a small percentage.” He said when they do these private-public partnerships, they will go to the community and have several town meetings to make sure anything built in the park will not hurt local businesses. Through this partnership, he said, “I see a day when the state parks are money-makers that don’t need any tax dollars.” Additionally, he said they are making all of the parks more wheel-chair accessible, and will build playground for special needs children.
Nungesser believes the next stimulus package will have money dedicated to tourism. He said that money will be spread out over the whole state to get them out into the communities. He mentioned a special program to help veterans. Louisiana has a high suicide rate among veterans. A program called “Songs of Survivors” was created in partnership with Louisiana Office of Cultural Development and the National Endowment for the Arts to provide song-writing workshops for veterans with PTSD.
Nungesser went on to say they are promoting Louisiana road trips and asked for cities and towns to let them know the highlights of their communities. They will put that in their tourism video to “get every Louisianian to visit town and city in the state.” This is part of the “Staycation” initiative.
Nungesser said all the private money for museums has dried up. They will set up three museum boards, one each in New Orleans, Shreveport, and Baton Rouge. Each one will have a foundation which will raise money and there will be a grant program in which every local museum will be able to apply for grants. Further, he said there will be a museum website where they will take pictures and video of every museum in the state.
Nungesser was asked if Attorney General Jeff Landry’s comments about Governor Edwards’ mask mandate being unconstitutional reflects negatively on the state and could thus negatively affect tourism. Nungesser responded, “Landry’s at home with the virus. How hypocritical. I’ve been to every meeting with the governor. Landry showed up one time when Coach O. was there, and he jumps on stage with Coach O. and agrees with him. He disappeared and never came back. When I gave John Bel my word I was going to work with him, my word is my bond. This is the right thing for Louisiana. Landry needs to quit grandstanding. He’s disrespecting our governor to make himself look good, and it’s not right.”
Further, Nungesser said, “Nobody likes to be told what to do, but we’re smart enough to wear a mask because we want to protect our friends and family. The reason we have to make it mandatory is for the ones who don’t listen. To bring politics into this is absolutely absurd. We’re not going to win unless we’re all pulling together as Louisianians and doing the right thing. I truly believe it’s wearing a mask, washing our hands, and keeping our distance. I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re going to get through this and we’re going to get back to these record-breaking years.”