Earlier this week, tourism promoters in New Orleans described how additional revenue from an assessment of hotels in the city will assist in extending its holiday season marketing to potential visitors.
The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation officials said a newly generated $1.3 million is allowing summer promotions to extend into the fall, with television viewers seeing "Follow Your NOLA" advertisements in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., until Nov. 24.
The package will include holiday-themed "Follow Your Joy" ads, which also will run as part of a $340,000 extended online holiday campaign in 13 metropolitan areas within driving distance: Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Mobile-Pensacola, Gulfport-Biloxi, Shreveport, Jackson, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Montgomery, Ala., Columbus-Tupelo in Mississippi and Monroe to El Dorado, Ark. That campaign will run from Nov. 3 to Dec. 8.
This will be the first full year the new revenue source would be used. THe marketing group budeted about $5 million from the assessment for 2015, and the full fee is not done being collected.