Parish experiences growth in tourism

Louisiana experienced a record-breaking number of visitors in 2015 and that tourism success rippled into St. Landry Parish, Celeste Gomez, St. Landry Parish Tourism executive director, said Tuesday to about 40 people attending the St. Landry Parish Tourism Industry Luncheon in Opelousas.
“It was the fourth straight year that Louisiana has a record-breaking year for the number of visitors who visited Louisiana,” Gomez said of the state’s 2015 tourism. “So, of course that means great things for St. Landry Parish.”
There 28.9 million visitors to Louisiana in 2015 and they spent $11.5 billion, Gomez said. “That’s a great thing for our economy especially at this time.”
Domestic travelers spent more than $97 million in St. Landry Parish, she said.  That generates $10.9 million in payroll and 620 direct jobs.
Gomez said every dollar spent on tourism returns $38, she said. She urged support for state tourism funding.
Tourism generated $2.77 million in tax receipts in St. Landry Parish.
“Our industry is really vital. It is growing. We are placed 17th out of 64 parishes in Louisiana as far as domestic travel expenditures and that is pretty impressive when you know the top 10 parishes have a much larger presence with the gaming industry than we do in St. Landry Parish,” she said.
A 4 percent hotel/motel occupancy tax is collected in St. Landry Parish. In 2015, the parish collected $422,000, which is used for tourism, Gomez said.
Additionally, the occupancy tax increased 7 percent from 2014 to 2015, she said.
Expenditures by travelers increased by $14 million over the past 10 years, she said.
“I think we are doing something right in our area with tourism,” she said.
Gomez also presented the following statistics.
The St. Landry Parish Tourism Commission placed 85 print and digital advertisements in various media outlets with a total circulation of more than 9 million readers.
CajunTravel.com user traffic grew from 11,290 from January to April 2015 to 16,988 during the same period this year.
More than 25,000 people have signed a register at the visitor center on Interstate 49 since 2011.
The tourism leaders meeting in the Stone Oak Ballroom included Eunice representatives Dwight Jodon, Pat Dossman, Kelly Pitre and Candace Reeves.
Guest speakers were Jennifer Ritter Guidry and Chris Adams of the Acadiana Food Alliance. They spoke about developing local food sources from growers to consumers.