Southern Decadence Expected to Draw Big Crowds

It's the start of the Labor Day weekend, and one area that's sure to be jam-packed...the French Quarter. Southern Decadence is expected to draw huge crowds, in fact organizers say they're expecting a record number of people, close to 150,00.

Business owners are preparing for big sales and hotels are filling up. The general manager of the Royal Sonesta Hotel, Al Groos says, "We do expect to be sold out at least for Saturday and Sunday."

Many of the businesses are ready for the masses, considering tourism numbers have been high, all summer long. While the state has been suffering because of the oil spill, more people have come to the crescent city to spend their time and money. In fact, in July alone the number of boardings at the airport shot up by 2.2 percent. Groos says, "If you weren't going to the beach, if you made that decision that you weren't going to go there, certainly New Orleans is a wonderful place to come visit and we're right in the vicinity so we became very, very attractive to those people that might normally go to the beach during the summer."

Tourism officials credit the spike in numbers to the hard work people around the city have done to get the word out that New Orleans has a lot to offer. Jennifer Day, with the Convention and Visitors Bureau says, "So many people across the board from hoteliers to restaurants have been working non-stop to rebuild this industry and the Convention Center is better than ever, and we're seeing the fruits of our labor come to bear." And they're hoping Decadence is a good start to usher in the fall....when a number of high profile conferences will come to town.