Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans tourism once again

Saturday, September 4, 2021

Hurricane Ida devastated New Orleans. What it left behind will be felt long after power is restored to nearly 1 million Entergy New Orleans customers who were still surviving without power the day after the storm made landfall in Southeast Louisiana.

For one tourist on Bourbon Street, Korell Bell, his first hurricane experience was not as bad as he expected.
“It was a lot of wind and a lot of rain,” Bell told WGNO’s Peyton LoCicero-Trist a day after initially talking with her before the storm reached the city. “But it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.”

Covid-19 had already battered the tourism sector of New Orleans and hurricane Ida acted as the last nail in the coffin.
Like several other tourists, who found themselves to some extent trapped in New Orleans with no power, few options and little certainty in terms of travel sector return, Korell Bell is appreciative of his time spent in New Orleans in spite of the damaging hurricane and quite thankful for the local’s hospitality who work and call the city home.

“I wanted to get the New Orleans experience, and I got it. It’s a great place and I will come back,” said Bell.

“We are able to stay at the hotel. Actually the hotel people at the Four Points by Sheraton [in the French Quarter] are pretty good and I respect everybody. There whole staff was wonderful toward us and treated us really good, gave us sandwiches and food and stuff.”

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