BATON ROUGE – A study from the Louisiana Office of Tourism and New Orleans research firm MDRG found that roughly half of recent visitors to the state were motivated by a movie or TV show featuring Louisiana. The Office of Tourism said that this curiosity led to an estimated $1.3 billion in 2018 tourism revenue alone – and the number increased in 2019.
“Louisiana’s unique culture, food and history are the subjects and backdrops for a huge variety of films, documentaries, and TV shows year after year,” said Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser in a press release. “It is no surprise that seeing all the ways you can feed your soul in Louisiana on the big screen – or small screen – inspires visitors to come and experience it for themselves. We are excited to showcase and promote filming locations as destinations for visitors as we welcome them back to Louisiana.”
The Office of Tourism said visitors are most drawn to historical sites, local cuisine and iconic landmarks. TV shows about travel are the most influential, followed closely by TV shows about food.
The study surveyed more than 600 respondents from some of Louisiana’s top visitation source markets.
