International tourism is the market New Orleans and Louisiana have seen the most growth in, prior to the pandemic, but local officials worry federal bureaucratic backlogs will mess it all up.
"Prior to COVID, we were bringing in hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly," said New Orleans & Company Executive Vice President Walt Leger III. Leger says they would like to bring that back, but the U.S. State Department has been slow-walking applications for tourist visas.
"Unfortunately, as we emerged from this, there's a tremendous backlog of visa processing," Leger explained, saying what used to take a few days can now take months.
"We've heard many stories from many people who wish to visit our city that they have hundreds of days of delays in getting appointments for their visa application to be considered," he said.
Leger is hopeful the efforts of the U.S. Travel Association to being attention to the matter will get some action, especially with New Orleans set to host the international Miss Universe competition next year.
"We've had these challenges in the past," Leger said. "Under the Obama administration, they took dramatic steps and addressed them and cut visa wait times down to a matter of days in some places."
While about 40 countries enjoy visa waivers for travel to the U.S. Leger says visitors from countries like Mexico, Brazil, and India -- where New Orleans has seen growth in international tourism -- need to obtain visas before they can enter the country.
