National Travel and Tourism Week kicks off around the country on May 3, and you can bet that New Orleans has a great week of events planned to take part in celebrating one of the most valuable things to our city: tourism. Our thriving tourism industry is the number one source of fuel to our economy, and the benefits we see from tourism go well beyond the hospitality industry.
(photo from meg’s my name on Flickr)
This year’s theme for National Travel and Tourism Week is “Travel Effect.” New Orleans is a city that experiences Travel Effect on a daily basis; travel affects all of us here. When revenue comes into our businesses from visitors, those dollars are spent several times over throughout our local economy before leaving. When out-of-towners spend in our city, important sales tax revenue is generated for infrastructure improvements to our city. The tourism industry provides 78,000 jobs and careers in New Orleans. Travel and tourism touch every aspect of our lives here.
With our host of New Orleans events for National Travel and Tourism Week, there are so many ways to not only support tourism in our city, but also learn more about the Travel Effect in New Orleans. From giving back to the city through volunteer work to a rally down Poydras Street in true New Orleans fashion, get in on the fun and register for next week’s events.
You can also get involved on the national scale by taking part in the Travel Effect Video Contest by answering the question “What’s your Travel Effect?” For example, does travel help you create memories with your family; recharge to perform better when back at work; bring out your youthful adventurer side? By submitting a video telling how travel and tourism affect your life in 60 seconds or less, you could win a wonderful getaway to do some traveling of your own.
Taking time to get to know and celebrate the tourism industry that has helped lift us to new heights is something we can do to strengthen our city. The more we embrace the power of travel and tourism, the brighter we can make our future by taking advantage of one of our greatest resources.