Tourism & New

Orleans Culture
Senior Capstone
Demi LeBlanc
 The city of New Orleans has always embodied a rich sense of culture, a melting

pot of diverse people and the mentality of taking it easy. Built upon these three

pillars, it made the city a birthplace of tourism and hospitality, making way for one of

the largest tourism markets in the world. While building this economy based almost

exclusively on tourism, along the way local business and community leaders began

to strip the city of what made it unique with the idea of building the citys economy,

and in its place the media began to brand New Orleans as the party city it is

becoming today. By glorifying the tacky and obscene on Bourbon St., the historic

French Quarter has slowly been taken over by drunken tourists who show little

respect for the history of these streets or the significance of Carnival. From the rise of

these tourist-marketed shops, we have seen a decline in the local flair and flavor of

New Orleans, and a migration of locals to other areas of the city and even the

country. The problem New Orleans faces is, the transformation of public spaces into

privatized consumption spaces, and the latest attempts by urban leaders to provide
a package of shopping, dining and entertainment within a themed, controlled

environment a development that scholars have called the Disneyfication of urban

space. ( Gotham 824).

This paper will further discuss the problem of Tourism Gentrification through an

interdisciplinary scope of three disciplines. Through Urban Studies we will discuss the

Disneyfication of the French Quarter and the urban branding placed upon the city

that promotes disrespect among tourists. Next, this paper will draw onideas from

Sociology to explain the muddling between local culture and the tourism culture of the

city to further explain the negative impacts over-tourism has contributed to the French

Quarter. And for a comprehensive view of the problem, this paper will further discuss

the Economic side of the problem to tie together the ideas from Urban Studies and

Sociology to further shed light on the complex problem that is New Orleans loss of

culture due to the ultra-dependency on the one-crop tourism economy.

New Orleans has undergone a process of urban revitalization in the past fifty

years, where local business leaders and our government banded together to rebuild

and brand the city in such a way that could sustain larger amounts of tourism, and

bring in a greater influx of people and economic wealth. An overhaul of the Ernest M.
Morial Convention Center, the Mercedes Benz Superdome, and the massive

rebuilding and openings of hotels in the historic French Quarter, pushed for the mass

tourism boost that New Orleans is seeing today. This form of mass tourism is not only

the movement of large amounts of people into the city, but the combined

infrastructure that brings tourist centered goods like souvenirs, food outlets and

transportation, as well as a large hotel base, in the citys cultural center (Gotham

1763). The city bases its urban marketing on an idea called place marketing, which

utilizes imagery and a particular theme to brand the city as a commodity for tourists.

Kevin Gotham, a Tulane professor of Sociology and Urban Studies, remarks that

many scholars have developed theories of tourist experience and the role culture

plays, and states that, One can find conceptualizations of tourism as a sacred

crusade, pilgrimage, or a search for authenticity; a force for historical and cultural

commodification. (Gotham 1763) From the need to produce this type of tourism, the

city entered a wave of gentrification in the French Quarter that started in the 1950s

when large corporate developers began to make New Orleans an entertainment

destination (Gotham 1100), capitalizing on the real estate market at the time to bring

in large commercial chains to an otherwise locally owned and operated area.

 The change from locally owned to corporate owned business in the French

Quarter, as well as the push from homeownership to condominiums, is the foundation

on which this gentrification started. The redevelopment of these spaces was viewed

from a marketing standpoint and capitalized on the idea of pleasure-seeking activities

that would draw tourism into the city. These now corporate owned places began to

use the imagery and symbols to create a theme for the Quarter and further set the

stage for the urban branding of the city. From 1950 to 1999, the number of souvenir

and t-shirt shops increased from twenty-six to one hundred and ten; retail apparel

stores increased from fourteen to forty-two; music clubs increased from seven to

twenty-seven; hotels increased from twenty-one to forty; and art galleries increased

from ten to forty (Gotham 1107). While these changes took place, local oriented

business like grocery stores and hardware stores decreased at a massive rate,

where grocery stores fells from forty-four to four stores in the historic downtown area

(Gotham 1107). These changes were made due to the corporate takeover of the

Quarter, and eventually led to the closing down of stores that had been there for

decades, further leading to the mass migration of locals to other areas of the city, or

even the country. Gotham states that, Streets in the Vieux Carre are laden with

historical allusions to a traditional and nostalgic view of the city as a friendly and
coherent place, lined with red-brick townhouses, cast-iron galleries over public

sidewalks and enchanting backyard gardens and slave quartersThese symbols

and motifs are selectively incorporated into tourist guides and promotional materials

to represent certain visual images of the city. One aim of these advertisements is to

conjure up emotionally satisfying themes of past times to promote an image of

nostalgia to attract tourists. (Gotham 1110). This type of urban branding takes place

as a form of manipulation for tourists, who begin to separate the culture and the place

itself, and this is when culture becomes a commodity to be consumed and capitalized

on.

The commodification of the French Quarter is also largely to do with the

sociological impacts that the mass media and other marketing strategists have

imposed upon the culture. Niche marketers began to zero in on the French Quarter

and its locals, and thus begun to erase the diversity of social groups and defining,

thus homogenizing families, baby boomers, senior citizens, gays and lesbians, and

African- and Hispanic- Americans as consumers. (Gotham 829). By cherry picking

groups of consumers, companies and organizations have the full ability to market key

components of the culture of New Orleans, and brand it specifically to whomever they
want it to. It begins to fit into a new narrative of tourists and their preconceived

notions of the city as a whole. Thus, the separation of place and themes of the

French Quarter and the local people themselves start to reach further and further

apart in the eyes of the consumers, where the root of the culture they are

experiencing is merely a marketable ploy and no longer comes from the genuine

group of people who initiated this experience. Tourism in itself is the melding of

cultures that come together, and eventually learn about one another. It is an

exchange of values and ideas amongst individuals or groups in a culturally

educational environment. In short, Tourism is considered a framework where hosts

and tourist can learn better about each other, through direct interaction. (Paul 502).

Bc Dorin Paul, a professor from the University of Oradea, states that, the

attitude of local people towards tourism crosses four stages: euphoria, where tourists

are welcomed into the community without control or planning. Apathy, where tourists

are considered a given by the community and the tourists-local relationship becomes

formal and commercial. Discomfort, reaching saturation with the tourism industry, the

community starts to change its mind about tourism. Decision makers further

development infrastructure instead of limiting growth. Lastly is antagonism, where

locals show their irritation towards tourists, further leading to a decline in the

reputation of the area. (Paul 502). The city is already experiencing this final, 4th

stage. Our tourism and branding of the city was built around our culture of festivals,

art and Mardi Gras. Walking into the French Quarter during any festival, even more

so for Carnival, one can see little local artists or authentic New Orleans memorabilia.

Local stores and chains have gone as far as to shut down their businesses for

festivals such as Essence Fest, claiming that the type of clientele it brings into the

city is not worth the hassle for their establishment or their staff. This is the type of

sociological impact that tourism is creating in New Orleans, where the locals and the

tourists no longer have a common ground on which to work upon. Tourists are no

longer interested in the authentic New Orleans, but center themselves around a

corporatized Bourbon St. filled with national chains with a dusting of local charm.

Talking to the locals who work in these establishments, the idea starts to form that

even they no longer sell authentic New Orleans, but deliver the theme the media has

branded the city to be. It becomes far easier to promote the tacky and tourist oriented

t-shirt shops, and to play the role the French Quarter has given one. This

Disneyfication of the Quarter has assigned a position to the locals who stayed that

meets the pleasure seeking criteria that tourists flock to the city for. The laid back,
laissez les bon temps rouler, which translates to Let the Good Times Roll, has been

taken from the local culture and commodified to bring people into the city. The locals

way of life further becomes the tourism culture of the city, further stripping it of what

made it unique in the first place.

Adopting this one crop economy centered completely around tourism has

proven to be detrimental to the city. With all eyes on tourism, business leaders and

the government working together have pushed for the building of a tourist

infrastructure that caters to the industry, but lacks dedication to its people. The

reliability on sales tax has pressured the local government to partner with private

capital to expand and promote the consumption based tourism economy( Gotham

1105). The hospitality industry in the city alone employs over 78,000 people and

brings in billions of dollars in revenue for the city, according to the HVS Greater New

Orleans Lodging Report in 2014. On an economic side of tourism, the sectors

affected are the tourists themselves, the locals, the government, and lastly the

investors. The tourists will pay for their experience, while the locals reap the benefits

of financial income but are also the ones who deal with the negative effects of

tourism. The government focuses on job creation and the gain in tax revenue that
tourism generates, and the investors are solely focused on the financial gain from the

businesses they back without the repercussions the locals face (Paul 501). The jobs

that the tourism industry supplies to the city are to some extent seasonal, with low

wages and limited opportunities for promotion. If we compare it with other industries,

tourism requires employees with a low level of specialization, which determines the

relatively low salary. (Paul 502). While the economy is boosted for the city, new

plans are made to expand the hotels and other entertainment venues in the city, but

the workers are living on very low wages with not much room for opportunity or

growth. The industry has failed tremendously to form a solid and stable middle class

in New Orleans, which is already a city rifled with some of the worst income inequality

in America (Glampiccoli and Saayman 3).

The citys culture has always been centered around a diverse group of people

who make up the gumbo pot that is the historic French Quarter and the driving force

of what began the pathway towards a tourism centered economy. Through the

Disneyfication of the French Quarter through place imagery and theming, the

culture has successfully been pushed to the side to make way for the mass media

branding of New Orleans, and has catered to the tourists so much so that an
authentic experience in the Quarter is no longer achieved amidst the corporate

chains and anti-local mentality that has taken hold. The historic streets are lined with

souvenir t-shirt shops, big name brand night clubs and commercial retail stores that

provide a lack of income for the locals who are employed in these locations and give

little room for financial growth, which leads to large migrations of locals from the city

centers to find that financial growth elsewhere. From the mass shift from locally

owned and operated businesses to corporate owned, a loss in demographics has

shaped the downtown area and further promoted this media angled focus of the city

of one that is entertainment centered and a tourism centered culture of letting loose

and the releasing of ones inhibitions. Tulane professor Kevin Fox Gotham

interviewed a French Quarter local who sheds light on the topic in the clearest way.

The local states, Once we understand our unique assets and learn to appreciate

and care for them, then we can start using them to help others, maybe show people

how they are valued and appreciated. The tourism industry cannot do this. Its all

about entertaining people in the most unenlightened and superficial way. And why?

Because they are only interested in generating money. Over the long term, this single

minded focus on money will destroy our unique culture and heritage. (Gotham 842).

The corporate owned entertainment venues will continue to force relocation of locals
to other areas of the state and the country and will further promote the globalization

of tourism. By making New Orleans look like every other city in America, the industry

is losing the culture that they capitalized on to begin with. Until the city can

regenerate the precious culture that makes New Orleans unique, this tourism industry

will strip the city to a mere commodity, and not the cultivation of decades of history

that gave the city its charm.

In conclusion, the problem of excess tourism in New Orleans can been viewed

from three different disciplinary perspectives and forms a more comprehensive view

of the problem. Through an interdisciplinary scope, the three disciplines have formed

common grounds on the basis of pushing out of culture due to a corporatized

economy that promotes the media branding New Orleans as a pleasure seeking city,

further leading to a mass migration of locals and with them, their culture. Community

and national experts have shed light on the increasing problem, and while there may

be a disparity between local citizens and business leaders, there is a large

consensus that New Orleans is falling victim to a culture that is dominated by tourism,

the culture it attempts to imitate, and the dollar value that it brings to the city. Until the

importance of culture supersedes the need to capitalize off of it, the city will continue
 down the path of globalized tourism, where New Orleans will look no different than

any other major city in the United States of America.

Works Cited

Dolfman, Michael L. "The Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Economy." Monthly

Labor Review 130.6 (2007): 3-18. JSTOR. Web. 03 May 2017.

Giampiccoli, Andrea, and Melville Saayman. "Community-based Tourism: From a Local to a

Global Push." Acta Commercii 16.1 (2016): n. pag. Web.

Gotham, K. F. "(Re)Branding the Big Easy: Tourism Rebuilding in Post-Katrina New Orleans."

Urban Affairs Review 42.6 (2007): 823-50. Web.

Gotham, Kevin Fox. "Marketing Mardi Gras: Commodification Spectacle and the Political

Economy of Tourism in New Orleans." Urban Studies 39.10 (2001): n. pag. Web.

Gotham, Kevin Fox. "Tourism Gentrification: The Case of New Orleans' Vieux Carre (French

Quarter)." Urban Studies 42.7 (2005): 1099-121. Web.

Jackson, Maria-Rosario. "Rebuilding the Cultural Vitality of New Orleans." PsycEXTRA Dataset

(2006): n. pag. Web.

Lair, Adam R. 2014 HVS Greater New Orleans Lodging Report. Rep. New Orleans: HVS, 2014.

Print.

Paul, Bac D. "The Impacts of Tourism on Society." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. University of Oradea,

Faculty of Economics

Souther, J. Mark. "The Disneyfication of New Orleans: The French Quarter as Facade in a

Divided City." "The Disneyfication of New Orleans: The French Quarter as Facade in a

Divided City," by J. Mark Souther, Journal of American History. The Journal of American

History, Dec. 2007. Web. 03 May 2017.

<http://archive.oah.org/special-issues/katrina/Souther.html>.