Ads reeling in visitors, tourism execs told

The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp.'s advertising campaign generated almost a third of all leisure visitors to New Orleans and more than $750 million in direct spending in 1996, a consultant retained by the marketing organization told New Orleans tourism executives Tuesday.
What everybody is saying about the New Orleans economy is that we have a tourism-led recovery with a diversified economy, said Gary Esolen, executive vice-president of the tourism marketing corporation. And leisure tourism is a major part of the market, he said.

Esolen's remarks followed a presentation by Bill Siegel, president of Longwoods International, a Toronto tourism research firm.

Siegel said 2.7 million trips taken to New Orleans between May 1996 and April 1997 were "due to ads." That is 31 percent of the 8.8 million overnight trips taken by leisure travelers during that time, Siegel said.

Visitors attending conventions, trade shows and corporate meetings make up only about 25 percent of all visitors to the city, according to a separate survey by the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp.

Visitors spent $751 million because of the advertising, Siegel told tourism executives gathered at the Hilton Riverside Hotel.

Siegel's presentation was based on 1,903 surveys of U.S. households in April 1997. Survey participants were sent copies of print advertisements and photos of scenes from televisoin ads as well as a four-page questionnaire, which asked about travel habits and whether the respondents recognized the New Orleans advertisements. The report was intended to study the effectiveness of the Tourism Marketing Corp.'s advertising campaign, as well as the image of New Orleans among travelers, in general.

The Tourism Marketing Corp. is financed by hotel taxes and appropriations from the city's general fund. Siegel, who was paid $85,000 by the group to do the study, said that without the Tourism Marketing Corp.'s ads, New Orleans would lose 2.7 million visitors a year, although he added the loss might take a couple of years to show up.

Timothy Ryan, dean of the University of New Orleans College of Business Administration, said the marketing corporation's numbers were impressive, particularly the assertion that the campaign accounts for 31 percent of leisure visitors. Ryan expressed some skepticism, saying the numbers appeared high. But he added, "If it's true, that's the most effective tourism marketing campaign I've ever heard of."

The Tourism Marketing Corp.'s presentation also included videotaped testimonials from hotel managers, who extolled the value of leisure travelers.

Patrick Quinn, president of Decatur Hotel Corp., said the Tourism Marketing Corp. had "definitely made an impact" on promoting leisure travel to the city. Quinn said he didn't know he believed that the New Orleans tourism industry would plummet as much as Siegel predicted without the Tourism Marketing Corp.'s advertisements.

"But," Quinn said, "I'd be afraid to find out."