It's a new era for travel and tourism bureaus across the country as they deal with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic - more than 20 months now - and adjust to increased competition for the discretionary dollar.
To that end, expect tourism authorities to be as inventive as possible in their marketing.
Case in point: the Louisiana Office of Tourism.
Along with Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, the Office of Tourism announced today it will debut a float next month in the 95th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The float will celebrate the birthplace of jazz, Cajun and Creole cuisine, and Mardi Gras, and will feature a 60-foot long decorative alligator.
"In Louisiana, if there's one thing we know how to do, it is how to parade," Nungesser said in a statement. "Participating in a parade as historic as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a real honor for the people of Louisiana. In celebrating our state's incredible lineup of music, food, and culture, we hope people from all over the country, and the world, will take part in visiting our lively state where every day is a celebration of life, and we treat you like family."
It's an unusual tourism platform, to be sure, as well as potentially costly - but also potentially lucrative in appealing to would-be visitors to the state and, particularly, New Orleans.
According to a 2019 CBS News story, there are about 20-25 floats each year in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Just to construct the float costs from $30,000 to $100,000, and judging from the picture provided, the Louisiana float seems fairly elaborate. And, according to CBS, Macy's makes a total of $780,000 to $2.6 million from sponsors who have floats.
But the eventual payoff for Louisiana could be huge.
A report by NPR estimates that between 2.3 million and 3 million people line the parade route in New York City every year.
And as for television, The Hollywood Reporter noted that even the 2020 parade - with little to no live audience and a mix of live and pre-recorded floats, balloons and musical acts - still drew 21.98 million viewers on NBC. That was virtually even with the 22.1 million who watched the 2019 parade and was the second most-watched entertainment telecast last year behind the Academy Awards.
"The Macy's Parade is thrilled to welcome this awe-inspiring and colorful float to our lineup," said Jordan Dabby, producer of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. "Sharing Louisiana's rich history of celebration, the Parade's newest float will bring the revelry to spectators lining the streets of New York City and enjoying the pageantry from homes nationwide."
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