Carrie Stansbury, chairman of the Atchafalaya Trace Commission Board, reviews one of the 52 kiosks that describe the effects of the Atchafalaya River on the people who have lived near and depended upon the river for millennia.
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser talks about the value and tradition of the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area on Monday. The state has 52 kiosk sites along the Atchafalaya Water Heritage Trail, which includes the Teche Area.
Carrie Stansbury, chairman of the Atchafalaya Trace Commission Board, reviews one of the 52 kiosks that describe the effects of the Atchafalaya River on the people who have lived near and depended upon the river for millennia.
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser talks about the value and tradition of the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area on Monday. The state has 52 kiosk sites along the Atchafalaya Water Heritage Trail, which includes the Teche Area.
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said it’s time state tourism marketing turn a chunk of its focus to the state’s rural parishes, especially in the wake of seeing a 37 percent increase in international visitors this year.
Nungesser delivered the remarks Monday, as he cut ribbons at three different kiosk locations along the Atchafalaya Water Heritage Trail, which spans 14 parishes in south-central Louisiana.
The trail is a self-guided experience that guides visitors to 52 kiosk sites, to illustrate how water has become the distinctive influence on life here.
Many of the kiosks are located in Vermilion, Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes.
Nungesser said it’s time his office starts focusing more on rural parishes, maybe even reviving the state’s Sportsman’s Paradise logo.
“New Orleans, Baton Rouge, they’re the big guys and they’re going to be OK. We need to branch out to our other communities,” he said.
The trail’s kiosks and associated maps tell of adventurers exploring a great deal of the state including those areas less traveled, Carrie Stansbury, chairman of the Atchafalaya Trace Commission Board, said.
One passage reads, “Throughout the ages, the Atchafalaya has: created ever-changing geography, shaped local culture, contributed to subtle and catastrophic events and has endured a long history of human manipulation.”
Stansbury said the purpose of the kiosks is to move visitors throughout all 52 sites.
Nelson Cortez, a member of the Cajun Coast Tourism Board in which Stansbury serves as executive director, said he believes the kiosks will be a valuable asset
“Many of the visitors to our area walk along the river, some even stop and ask locals about the river’s history. These kiosks will give them key insight,” Cortez said.
St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff said the kiosks are just another opportunity for everyone to promote tourism.
“In this season we need the tourism dollars, and we need them bad -— I mean immensely,” Hanagriff said. “We know tourism is our way out.”
Nungesser’s dedication of the trail comes in the wake of Gov. John Bel Edwards proclaiming October as Atchafalaya Month, to draw attention to the sportsman’s paradise tourist dollar.
In 2006, Congress designated the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area as a region with significant natural, scenic, cultural, historical and recreational resources as well as offering a unique blend of European, African, Caribbean and Native American cultures.
More information regarding the Water Heritage Trail can be found at WaterHeritageTrail.org. Information regarding the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area can be found at Atchafalaya.org.
Nungesser said the kiosks are a great tool in the state’s tool box to promote the state’s theme, “Sportsman’s Paradise.”
Additionally, he said, his office has hired additional personnel to focus on statewide tourism needs.
“We”ve hired: A social media guru to promote all of the state’s events; a group tour sales person, and a sports person to bring more sporting events to areas outside of the state’s big cities,” he said.
“It’s time we return to the days where we promoted ourselves as the great Sportsman’s Paradise,” Nungesser said, noting the state was only second to New York in seeing the most international visitors this year.
He said he hired a commission to study visitors in big cities like New Orleans, to determine where the visitors go when they leave.
“Somehow, we’ve got to grab those folks,” Nungesser said as he described one of his other ongoing projects, which is building brochure exhibits for the New Orleans Convention Center.
“I intend to see us staff some of these, so that we grab the visitors attention and send them elsewhere,” he said.
“We did the pick your passion thing — it’s not selling Louisiana anymore. We need to find out what else the tourists are doing other than dining in the French Quarter,” he said.