Why Canadian Tourists Are Turning Their Backs on Louisiana

The feud between the United States and Canada is having a direct negative impact on Louisiana. Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser tells KEEL News the dispute between Canada and the US is really hurting tourism in Louisiana. Nungesser says:

Canada is our biggest international market and ever since the President wanted to make it the 51st state and the tariffs and now renaming the lake, we have seen tourism from Canada drop off considerably.

Nungesser says last year we had more than 25 bus tours cancel trips from Canada to Louisiana. He says those buses were coming for an international tourist event in Lafayette and they were planning to visit other parts of the state. He says even more bus tours have been cancelled for this year.

Nungesser says a group from Louisiana went to Canada to give out Tabasco ice cream at the train stations. The group had dinner with all the travel agents. Nungesser says they love Louisiana, but with all the anger there, they can't even think about booking trips to the US "until this tension simmers down".

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KEEL News asked Nungesser what he would tell President Trump about how this tension is hurting Louisiana. The Lt. Governor says he has already asked President Trump to apologize for his remarks about Canada, but Nungesser says "that didn't go over well." He's not expecting the President to apologize.

Many pundits have claimed the most recent plan by President Trump to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America is really a distraction to keep folks from thinking about the real problem.

Nungesser says:

I think a lot of the things he does and says is to take the attention off of some of the real problems we have. We've got so many problems to focus on and this diverts the attention away from the war and the economy which seems to be more important to the American people.

He also adds: "to continue to throw bombs at them is not going to help us in tourism for Louisiana."