ReNew Orleans

Before Aug. 29, New Orleans was well on its way to setting a record in tourism revenue for 2005 - until Katrina came into the picture and wiped out the tourism industry in the city.

Although the city's top destination sites, such as the French Quarter and the Garden District, came out almost unscathed from the hurricane, media coverage of the breached levees inundating the city with bacteria-laden water gave a bruise to the Big Easy's reputation for luring visitors intent on eating, drinking and making merry.

In 2004, New Orleans welcomed 10.1 million visitors into the city, John Deveney of Deveney Communications, the city's public relations firm for two years, said.

Those visitors have dropped $5.5 billion within the New Orleans metropolitan area.

The hotel-motel occupancy rate for the first seven months of 2005 was 69.1 percent.

"New Orleans has a really strong pull for being an authentic and romantic city in the country," Deveney said. "They can see it in the music and architecture."

Also, New Orleans had a thriving art community.

With so much history and culture, the city is intent on rebuilding and reopening its doors.

The city is also recognized globally for its cuisine with famous dishes such as gumbo and red beans and rice.

"The city was founded by so many cultures," Deveney said, noting French, Spanish and Native American influences.

Officially, the city has not been open for tourism for the past four months, but tourists have been trickling in.

Jan. 1 was a scheduled rebirth with city and state officials gathering to reopen the city to tourists.

As tourists return, Deveney says they will be able to see where history was made but also see history in the making.

"The people will revive our economy."

Deveney says lodging for tourists is something the city is aware needs attention.

By early December, the city had 18,000 hotel rooms available. After Jan. 1, 20,000 rooms should be available.

"We are absolutely ready to host visitors," Deveney said. "Even more so now."

In the flea market in the French Market, about 12 booths are set up selling small trinkets, purses, sunglasses and T-shirts, with empty spaces outnumbering the booths.

Charlotte Cooper and Robert Ezell, residents of Slidell, La., are optimistic the city will thrive again with returning tourists.

In addition to losing their house to the hurricane, they also received a blow to their flea market business.

"Once the levees are rebuilt and there are more hotel rooms, they will come back," Cooper said.

A few weeks back, Cooper said three buses came into town bringing a few hundred people into the market.

Before Katrina, the market had more than 300 vendors with booths extending into the market streets, Ezell said.

Now Monday through Thursday, vendors do not have to pay a fee to set up booths: only on weekends are they required to pay a $50 fee.

To make up for lost revenue, the couple now drives to a flea market in Mobile, Ala., on weekends.

For now the city has begun a new campaign called "New Orleans Rebirth Louisiana - Restoring the Soul of America."

The campaign Web site describes a four-point plan crucial to the state of Louisiana: rebuilding Louisiana to a worldwide top tourist destination, making the state's economy stronger and a catalyst for economic and social rebirth, building better lives for the people of Louisiana and assuring the recovery of the state is at the highest standard possible in accountability and ethical behavior.

Jefferson Parish, which was fortunate to only sustain wind damage and minor flooding, has been able to keep its tourism base.

Violet Peters, executive director of Jefferson Convention and Visitors Bureau, said hotel and restaurant businesses have been busy.

Jefferson Parish has 7,000 hotel rooms with 3,000 being used by evacuees and personnel involved in rebuilding Orleans parish, Peters said.

Though its neighbor received most of the tourism revenue - Jefferson Parish is known as the New Orleans Gateway - Peters says the parish is optimistic that the arrival of Mardi Gras will help in reviving the tourism economy.

The area plans a truncated eight-day celebration beginning Feb. 12 instead of the normal more than two-week observation.

"We're not there yet, but we're focused on the future,"

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