By Madison Remrey
On Friday, May 6, the Lieutenant Governor gave a speech in Ruston in honor of National Travel and Tourism Week.
Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser was virtually introduced by Louisiana-raised singer Lauren Daigle, and Nungesser and said that they were here to celebrate a successful year of tourism in the state of Louisiana.
“This past year, we saw a 29% increase over 2020 and we had 41 million visitors – way above what we anticipated coming out of COVID,” Nungesser said.
His speech addressed wanting to keep Louisiana residents and visitors informed on everything Louisiana has to offer. The Louisiana Office of Tourism did this by creating the Sunshine Plan.
The Sunshine Plan is a plan that has been laid out with the goals of guiding Louisiana tourism in an upwards trajectory after the losses that were brought on by COVID-19.
Because of COVID-19, there are events nationwide that will have to be rescheduled. In order to encourage those groups to reschedule their events to be hosted in Louisiana, the Louisiana Office of Tourism will offer them a “Louisiana Lagniappe.” This includes offering them food and other specialties of Louisiana culture.
Nungesser continued his speech and said that, as Louisiana opens its doors back up to visitors, there must be efforts made to clean up the state.
Businesses have been asked to put trash cans back into parking lots and to pick up trash in front of shops. Residents have been asked to clean out the back of pickup trucks and to also tie trash bags before throwing them away.
“This is something we can do and we must do,” Nungesser said.
Nungesser’s speech was followed by a closing speech given by Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker. This speech addressed Ruston’s tourism – specifically the Ruston Sports Complex, Grambling State University and Louisiana Tech University —- and its benefits to the local and surrounding communities.
