With a slow return of festivals, sun and outdoor attractions, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes are beginning to see tourists return to the area, officials say.
Tourism and travel contribute $54 million to the local economy annually, said Cody Gray, president and CEO of Louisiana Cajun Bayou, Lafourche Parish s tourism agency.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, hotel occupancy and the taxes it produces for local tourism agencies increased, Gray said. But the uptick stemmed from private contracts between oil companies and large hotels, where workers were sent to quarantine prior to going offshore.
“We’re taking this very good circumstance from a very bad situation and investing it into tourism and reinvesting into our tourism assets and into our promotions,” Gray said.
There’s a treasure hunt going on right in our own backyard.
Look closer at the local ice cream parlor or cemetery and you just might find geocaches close by.
Collecting the small tokens, known as geocaching, is a popular recreational activity, in which people can participate using a GPS, mobile device, or other mode of navigation to find geocaches at specific marked coordinates.
Participants record their finds online to show their friends and fellow geocachers where they have been, and those who collect all 22 caches in Terrebonne Parish can receive a Houma Geocoin to mark the achievement.
First established 2015, Houma hosts one of only 50 GeoTours in the whole world.