Moving Forward Archive

St. Landry Parish tourism promoters use the slogan, “we live our culture” to point out the diversity of our people and the wealth of what we have to offer visitors.

They note that “Acadian, Creole, French, African, Spanish, Italian and Native American people have mixed and matched here for almost three centuries. Those influences give St. Landry Parish music, food and culture that few can match.”

But many of us “live our culture” so well that we don’t notice how distinct it is. We overlook its richness, are amused (and sometimes amazed) when people from other places rave over our meals, find our music fascinating, or marvel at the wild beauty of the Atchafalaya Basin or the quiet history mirrored in our communities.  We simply take these things for granted; they are everyday fare to us.

Nor do we recognize that the visitors who come to see and experience life in St. Landry have a growing and important impact on the local economy—sometimes in ways that we don’t think about.

“Visitors bring new money into the local economy—money spent not only on hotel rooms and meals, but at service stations, drug stores, grocery stores, and businesses of all kinds,” according to Celeste Gomez, director of the St. Landry Tourist Commission. “That money filters throughout the local economy—through paychecks for hotel, casino, and restaurant workers, but also to indirect jobs such as truck drivers for distributors who supply restaurants, even to the farmers and fishermen who put the food on the tables.”

In 2014 nearly 29 million visitors spent $11.2 billion in Louisiana communities, according to the Louisiana Office of Tourism, and Gomez points out that St. Landry is capturing a growing share of that.

In 2013, the last year for which complete data was compiled by the U.S. Travel Association, visitors spent $94.33 million in St. Landry, paying nearly $3 million in parish taxes. 

Tourism-related jobs generated an annual payroll of $10.57 million in the parish in 2013.

“Those numbers are growing,” Gomez said. “We are attracting more visitors than ever, and once they have been here, many of them are coming back. They like us and what we have to offer. Best yet, they tell their friends about how well they ate, how much fun they had, how friendly our people are. You can’t buy advertising like that.”

Travel writers are also taking increasing notice of St. Landry. Recent articles have appeared in publications ranging from Southern Livingmagazine to the New York Times, as well as in the local press and in a host of blogs posted by independent writers.

The parish has won the Louey Award, presented to the state’s outstanding tourist commissions. It recognizes parishes that use events, activities marketing or promotions to bring new visitors, and particularly commissions that have a history of partnering with neighboring visitor bureaus to build tourism throughout the region.

“Partnering is important to us,” Gomez says. “First, Acadiana has so much to offer as a region that the more we can partner and package it as a whole, the more attractive we will be to visitors. Second, when we market the entire area, we are more likely to attract visitors who will spend a little more time here. Every day they stay means more money spent here. And, finally, it encourages people who live here to make day trips to St. Landry,” she said.

“As we say on our web site, ‘In St. Landry Parish, accordions are cool, boudin is hot and history is not just in textbooks. Our events and festivals celebrate art, Cajun music, catfish, cracklins, etouffee, herbs, spices, yams and zydeco.’

“Almost all of those are things visitors have never seen before, and won’t find anywhere else. All we have to do is get them here. They will have an experience unlike any other—and they will enjoy it and come back.”