BATON ROUGE, La. – Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and the Louisiana Office of Tourism (LOT) announce Louisiana saw continued increases in visitation and visitor spending in 2023.
According to research from MMGY Global, Louisiana welcomed 43 million domestic and international visitors in 2023, an increase of 420,000 over 2022. These visitors spent a total of $18.1 billion in 2023, an increase of 5.4% from 2022. International visitation showed the most significant gain, increasing 16.9% in 2023 with spending reaching $1.7 billion.
Additionally in 2023, visitor spending generated $1.9 billion in state and local taxes. Tax revenue generated through travel and tourism spending saves each household in Louisiana $1,098 a year in taxes that would be needed to maintain current services.
“It’s exciting to see the increases to visitation and spending in Louisiana as we work to get back to record breaking numbers prior to the pandemic,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “I’m especially pleased to see the increase in numbers from international visitors. We know international visitors stay longer, visit more places and spend more money, making them extremely important to the economic impact of travel to the state. These increases are despite the challenges of increasing travel costs.”
The U.S. Travel Association does not predict international visitation to recover until 2025, and spending levels are expected to recover by 2026. In an effort to attract international travelers, LOT is promoting Louisiana in new markets across the globe. In the past year, Louisiana participated in or hosted sales and media missions to Australia/New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and India. This week, LOT is headed to Milan, Italy, and Madrid, Spain, as part of a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Department to promote Louisiana as a tourism destination to the Italian and Spanish markets. In total, the grant covered three markets which included Mumbai, India.
“Through our proactive marketing and promotion of the state, not only domestically, but internationally, we expect to continue to see a steady return of visitors,” said Lt. Governor Nungesser. “People are excited to return to travel and experience all the ways to Feed Your Soul in Louisiana – and we’re just getting started.”
At the end of 2023, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show there were 220,500 people employed in Louisiana’s leisure and hospitality industry, an increase of 3,100 additional jobs from 2022. The hospitality industry is the fourth largest employer in the state.
