NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Mardi Gras season is over and thousands of tourists are heading home after the party.
“I don’t know how to keep it PG, but definitely saw some stuff,” tourist Shakala Lilly-Hutchins said as she was getting ready to fly home to Texas.
The tourism board New Orleans & Company didn’t have any attendance figures available for Mardi Gras 2024 but estimates it in the hundreds of thousands.
Louis Armstrong International Airport data shows a rising number of people coming to the city. The latest data (as of November 2023) shows a 6.8 percent jump in arriving passengers compared to Nov. 2022.
“We ended up turning away a lot of people looking for rooms, which seems to be on an uptick from previous years. So, we could’ve housed a lot more people if we had the room to do so,” Henry Howard Hotel Guest Service Agent Bruce Clark said.
MARDI GRAS 2024
Lilly-Hutchins was one of several tourists who told FOX 8 they spent the majority of their tourism dollars on food and beverages.
But Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) resident Krystale King said the most valuable thing she’ll take away from the event was the memories.
“Everybody here is friendly. They’re very nice and sweet. They’re giving me shots. I don’t even know people, they’re like ‘how are you doing you want a shot’ and I’m like sure! We’re having fun so I like it here,” King said.
While there were several high-profile incidents of violence during the celebration, several tourists told Fox 8 they felt safe during their stay.
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