Tourism bump

By JEAN L. McCORKLE
jmccorkle@daily-review.com
The past two weekends have been an economic boon for local businesses with visitors coming from out of town to spend their money.
Carrie Stansbury, Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau executive director, said that while the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival is conducting a full economic impact study that will take several months to complete, she does know that roughly 650 rooms at six hotels were occupied for the festival.
She had no information this morning on the occupancy for the Deep South Racing Association Battle on the Basin last weekend, but said the Hampton Inn and Suites in Morgan City was the official host hotel.
Bob Harrison, Hampton general manager, said the occupancy rate at the hotel was about 85 percent with Friday and Saturday being the biggest nights.
“The occupancy was really good. We almost filled up. It was a good group,” Harrison said, adding that visitors came from Mobile, Alabama; Destin, Florida; Texas; and various Louisiana cities including Shreveport.
“They were here last year,” he said. “They enjoyed some of the area restaurants.”
For the festival, Harrison said his hotel’s occupancy was around 85 percent with Saturday and Sunday being the stronger day. He noted, however, that his patrons missed the shuttle service to the festival that was provided the previous year.
Meanwhile, Glenn Blanco, Lake End Park manager, said, “We were full to the gills for festival weekend. We didn’t have a space available for the festival.”
He said this past weekend the campground was at about 75 percent capacity, normal for a weekend this time of year.
At Kemper Williams, Meaghan Thompson, secretary for the park, said there were 19 additional campers for festival weekend and one new camper for the boat race weekend.