Louisiana: 6th record year for tourism; 47M visitors

NEW ORLEANS – Officials say 2017 was Louisiana’s sixth record year in a row for tourism, with 47.1 million visitors spending $17.5 billion.

According to a news release from the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, the number of visitors last year rose nearly 500,000 from 2016, and their spending rose more than 4 per cent. State and local tax revenues rose 4.5 per cent, from $1.73 million to $1.81 million.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser says tourism brings in $37 for every tax dollar spent on promotion and marketing.

The number of visitors has risen steadily since 2011, the first year that tourism had fully recovered from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Tourism has set records each year from 2012 on.