Tourism in New Orleans is a little different from tourism in most cities.
People don’t come here to see one attraction, take three pictures and head back to the hotel. A typical New Orleans visit might include breakfast in the French Quarter, a convention downtown, lunch Uptown, a swamp tour outside the city and live music on Frenchmen Street that evening.
Somewhere in between, everybody has to get from Point A to Point B.
As the owner of Alert Transportation, I spend a lot of time thinking about that part of the tourism experience. Transportation may not be the first thing somebody remembers about a trip to New Orleans, but it helps make almost everything else possible.
The New Orleans Experience Is Spread Out
The French Quarter gets plenty of attention, and understandably so, but New Orleans extends well beyond Bourbon Street.
Visitors may want to explore the Garden District, Mid-City, Uptown, the Warehouse District and neighborhoods throughout the city.
- Restaurants are everywhere.
- Music is everywhere.
- Historic sites are everywhere.
Then there are attractions outside New Orleans itself.
Swamp tours, historical sites, festivals and other experiences can take visitors into surrounding communities throughout Southeast Louisiana.
That creates a simple transportation reality: walking can only accomplish so much.
Especially in August.
A person may arrive in Louisiana believing a two-mile walk sounds perfectly reasonable. Louisiana humidity has been known to change that opinion rather quickly.
The Trip Often Starts at the Airport
For many visitors, the New Orleans experience begins at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
Once the luggage appears—and hopefully all of it appears—the next question is transportation.
Travelers need to reach hotels, vacation rentals, cruise terminals, convention facilities and other destinations around the Greater New Orleans Area.
Groups create additional considerations.
Four people with four suitcases require a different transportation setup than 30 convention attendees arriving together.
Airport transportation is therefore more than simply moving passengers. Luggage, group size, arrival times and destinations all become part of the planning process.
Conventions Move a Lot of People
New Orleans has a long history as a convention destination.
Large meetings can bring thousands of visitors into the city at the same time. Those attendees do not necessarily spend the entire trip inside a convention center.
- There are dinners.
- Corporate events.
- Meetings at hotels.
- Entertainment.
- Off-site activities.
Transportation helps connect all of those pieces.
For organized groups, keeping people together can also simplify the schedule.
Anybody who has ever attempted to get 25 people to leave a New Orleans restaurant at exactly the same time understands that transportation is only part of the challenge.
Cruise Passengers Add Another Layer
The Port of New Orleans connects the city with the cruise industry.
Passengers may arrive at the airport and travel directly to a cruise terminal, but many spend time in New Orleans before or after a cruise.
That creates additional transportation between airports, hotels, restaurants, attractions and terminals.
From a tourism standpoint, those extra days matter because they connect cruise travelers with businesses throughout the city.
Transportation helps make that connection possible.
Restaurants Depend on Mobility
New Orleans has one of those food cultures where asking someone to name a favorite restaurant can accidentally start a 45-minute argument.
Visitors quickly discover that many restaurants worth experiencing are not located beside their hotel.
That means transportation becomes part of dining.
A visitor staying downtown may want dinner Uptown. Somebody staying near the convention center might want lunch in Mid-City.
Transportation expands the practical area visitors can explore.
The same applies to music.
Frenchmen Street gets plenty of attention, but live music exists throughout the city. Getting visitors beyond a few heavily traveled blocks allows more neighborhoods and businesses to participate in the tourism economy.
Group Transportation Keeps Everybody Together
New Orleans attracts weddings, family reunions, school groups, corporate gatherings and organized tours.
Moving groups creates different challenges than transporting individuals.
A wedding party might need transportation from a hotel to a ceremony and then to a reception. Corporate attendees may need to travel from meetings to dinner. Tour groups may have several stops scheduled during one day.
Coordinated transportation helps keep those schedules organized.
It also reduces the likelihood of somebody texting the group 20 minutes later asking, “Where is everybody?”
There is always one.
Accessibility Matters
Tourism should include travelers with different mobility requirements.
Visitors using wheelchairs or other mobility equipment may need accessible transportation to reach hotels, restaurants, attractions, medical facilities and events.
That requires planning beyond simply identifying a destination.
Vehicle accessibility, boarding requirements, equipment space and scheduling can all become part of the trip.
At Alert Transportation, accessibility is an important part of understanding transportation because mobility needs should not prevent somebody from experiencing New Orleans.
New Orleans Events Change Everything
Transportation in New Orleans also requires an understanding that streets occasionally stop behaving like streets.
Mardi Gras is the obvious example.
Parades close roads. Festivals change traffic patterns. Sporting events bring thousands of people into concentrated areas.
Sometimes a perfectly normal route on Monday becomes completely useless on Saturday because several thousand people are standing in it holding daiquiris.
Local transportation requires awareness of those conditions.
Knowing the destination is important.
Knowing which streets can actually reach it that day is equally important.
Transportation Is Part of the Tourism Infrastructure
- Tourism depends on connections.
- Airports connect travelers to the city.
- Hotels give them a place to stay.
- Restaurants introduce them to Louisiana food.
- Music venues introduce them to local culture.
- Tours connect them with history and the surrounding region.
- Transportation connects many of those experiences to each other.
As someone involved in transportation throughout the Greater New Orleans Area, I see that connection every day.
New Orleans gives visitors plenty of reasons to move around.
The transportation industry simply helps make sure they can.
Because seeing New Orleans is one thing.
Getting everybody there at the same time is another.
