Louisiana Official Visits County to Sell His State to Californians

Louisiana’s secretary of culture, recreation and tourism was in Orange County recently, enjoying the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, pondering a survey taken in Irvine of attitudes toward his state and generally trying to drum up business and leisure travel.

Louisiana is celebrating its 300th birthday this year, which has proved to be a “banner year” for tourism, said the secretary, Phillip J. Jones. He said the tricentennial, marketed as FrancoFete ’99 in a nod to French influence on the state, has made Louisiana the nation’s leader in domestic tourism growth this year and No. 4 in international tourism growth.

The survey found that Californians who have visited Louisiana are favorably disposed toward the food, music and culture. Even those who have never visited had a clear-cut image of New Orleans in their heads: free live music in the streets. The state is associated with “decadent food,” Jones said. “A lot of people just said, ‘I would like to do an eating tour of Louisiana.’ ”

Playing to those tastes, a major emphasis in the state’s tourism promotions will be a “two for one” vacation combining land and sea. Explained Jones: “We think there’s tremendous potential in Californians taking a cruise out of New Orleans.”

Jones and a marketing consultant, F. Ross Crusemann of Peter A. Mayer Advertising, enjoyed a stay at the Ritz but checked out for cheaper digs when the weekend arrived and the Ritz rates went up a couple hundred dollars. “There was no way you were going to justify that [higher cost] to Louisiana taxpayers,” Crusemann said.