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January 9, 2008

CONTACT:
Seth Harvey
(225) 342-0729
sharvey@crt.state.la.us

NEW ORLEANS, LA - Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu debuted a brand new Louisiana tourism ad campaign that features some well known Louisiana basketball players, musicians, chefs, and actors, at this year's annual Tourism Summit in New Orleans. The My Louisiana ads provide visitors an "insider's" personal insight on what to see and do while in Louisiana. To view the ads, visit Media.LouisianaTravel.com. The Lt. Governor also discussed the state of Louisiana's tourism during his keynote remarks.

State of the Tourism Industry

"While we still have a long way to go, visitation numbers, visitor spending and intent to visit are all on the upswing," Landrieu said. "When I look at our numbers, I see an industry that is steadily recovering - even outpacing early projections."

Since 2005, visitation has increased by 29%. Visitor spending has increased by 12%. Early projections for 2007 show Louisiana with 23.3 million visitors and $8.8 billion in visitor spending.

The Lt. Governor said that the industry will reach a post-Katrina and Rita milestone. "Researchers at the University of New Orleans project that we will hit a milestone in 2008, reaching 100% of our pre-hurricane level of visitors (24.1 million)."

The research shows that Louisiana advertising and marketing campaigns have been successful, generating a spike in regional intent to visit. Drive market surveys indicate visitors' intent to visit Louisiana was 56 percent in January 2007, up from 46 percent only one year before.

In terms of visitor perception, Louisiana rates high on superb local cuisine, variety of cultural attractions, unique experiences, and interesting fairs and festivals. Tourism and marketing campaigns are capitalizing on these strengths.

National intent to visit remains flat, and national markets continue to need education about the current situation in post-Katrina and Rita Louisiana. Concern still exists about what there is to see and do in our state. The tourism industry will address this issue through targeted marketing.

Landrieu discussed tourism trends by region. He gave an overview of legislative successes, including legislation passed through the Louisiana Legislature to lift the cap on tourism funding, to create "cultural products districts", to put music and the arts in every Louisiana public school and to continue the Louisiana film incentive program.

During remarks, Landrieu highlighted the Lt. Governor's Office key initiatives relating to tourism and the cultural economy: including the World Cultural Economic Forum; Louisiana Main to Main; the design of African American Heritage trails, Civil War trails, Birding trails and Culinary Trails; and the Grammy 2008 initiative.

My Louisiana Ad Campaign

"We are blessed with unbelievably talented and gregarious people in Louisiana who all have their own favorite things that they love about this state. Based on our research and our natives' intimate knowledge of Louisiana, we arrived at a campaign concept that allowed a handful of local personalities to share their insight into what they think is great about Louisiana," said Lt. Gov. Landrieu.

The current insiders in the ads are Chef John Folse, Chef John Besh, musician Amanda Shaw, actress Faith Ford, musician Terrance Simien and NBA greats Willis Reed, Karl "The Mailman" Malone, and Chris Paul. The multimedia My Louisiana campaign, which includes TV, print ads and interactive, will launch in the spring of 2008 regionally, nationally and on the Internet. In time, the campaign will feature new insiders offering their personal tips on things to see and do around the state.

"We tested multiple advertising concepts in different key markets, and a national internet panel to arrive at this campaign concept. This campaign answers some of the questions our research revealed that potential visitors have about our state, like 'What is there to see and do?', 'What do the locals do?', and 'How can I see and do what the locals do?' We think this campaign answers those questions with an insider's insight into their favorite Louisiana experiences, and encourages visitors to seek out their own favorite things to see and do during their visit," said Landrieu.

The My Louisiana TV spots were directed and produced locally at Big Storm Productions featuring soundtracks performed by local talents: Terrance Simien, David Torkonowsky, Irvin Mayfield, Hurlin Riley, and Neil Crane.

When the campaign launches this spring, visitors will be encouraged to visit LouisianaTravel.com or call the 800 # to learn what our insiders recommend to see and do. A special section of the site will be created for this purpose and will also allow visitors to create their own insiders tour of Louisiana.

Partnership with the NBA

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu debuted a special tourism ad that is a result of a partnership with the NBA, and some well-known Louisiana basketball players. The ads feature appearances by Louisiana native and New York Knicks Hall-of-Famer, Willis Reed, Louisiana native Karl "The Mailman" Malone, and current New Orleans Hornets All-Star, Chris Paul.

The NBA will air the spots via TV and Sirius radio at no charge. They will begin airing later this month and will continue throughout the course of this year's basketball season.

"We are grateful to the NBA for their efforts to help Louisiana spread the word that we are open for business. We are also grateful for the time and talent donated to us by these incredible athletes. We are proud to call them Louisianans," said Lt. Gov. Landrieu.