Louisiana tourism is on the rise

By: Crystal Whitman-Barrow

Updated: May 08, 2018 11:24 AM CDT

The Miss USA pageant is fast approaching and is one of many new tourism opportunities in Louisiana.
Miss USA is expected to bring in around $5 M to Shreveport-Bossier, according to the tourism bureau. The Miss USA and Teen USA pageant competitions will be in Shreveport on May 21st. The contestants are arriving over the next week and the first major event will be the Miss USA Parade that will roll Monday, May 14, 2018, at noon downtown.

State-wide, the Associated Press reports $47.1 M was spent in tourism last year. It was Louisiana's sixth record year with the number of visitors rising nearly 500,000 from 2016. As a result, state and local tax revenues rose 4.5% to $1.8 M.

Shreveport is part of that driving force with several yearly events that attract visitors from across the world.

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.

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