Travel experts don’t believe the New Year’s terror attack in New Orleans will impact tourism over the coming months.
“Understanding that everyone has different ideas of what’s safe, it would be a shame to cancel plans to visit the Big Easy over the terror attack,” Clint Henderson, managing editor at The Points Guy, told FOX Business.
According to authorities, army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a truck through a crowd on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing 15 people and injuring dozens of others. Jabbar, who died at the scene of the attack, was a U.S.-born citizen who lived in Texas.
Police said the suspect died after he jumped out of his pickup truck and traded gunfire with responding officers.
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“Already Bourbon Street has reopened and the city is relying on tourism dollars for the next big events in the city including Mardi Gras, Super Bowl and Jazz Fest,” Henderson told FOX Business. “The best thing you can do to support the community is to keep your plans to visit.”
It is a particularly good time to visit given that “local officials will be especially vigilant,” according to Henderson.
Henderson expects tourism to take a hit in the short-term but is hopeful that “local businesses won’t have to wait too long for a recovery in visitors and spending.”
Similar to Henderson, Gilbert Ott, head of partnerships at reward travel platform godsavethepoints.com told FOX Business that destinations like New Orleans “bounce back very quickly when incidents happen.”
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“I know the international community, thanks to the excitement New Orleans attracts around the world, will rally around this historic city as it has before,” Ott said, adding that “passengers flying to New Orleans tend to book their travel a few weeks to months in advance — for major events like the Super Bowl, or events like bachelor and bachelorette parties or 40th birthday celebrations. They’re still coming, as they should.”
Daniel Green, co-founder of Faye Travel Insurance, agreed that “it’s unlikely that people will change either their appetite for, or behavior around travel.” He believes events such as the Super Bowl, and Mardi Gras will be just as crowded as previously expected.
However, Green noted that travelers who may be nervous can always take advantage of things like “Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR)” insurance, which is designed to let people cancel their plans within pre-defined time windows, and recover a large amount of the investment you’ve made in your trip.
Meanwhile, the investigation is still ongoing. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.
Louisiana’s top lawyer is vowing an eye-for-an-eye for those believed to be involved in the Bourbon Street terror attack.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill posted on X, “In Louisiana, we have the death penalty, and we will carry it out!
Murrill tells Fox News there is evidence that multiple individuals are involved but declines to share further details.
FOX Business’ Bradford Betz’ contributed to this report.
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