Mardi Gras has been a welcome boost to the state, especially in the metro-New Orleans area but also in the Hub City, where President of the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission, Ben Berthelot said they’ve seen an influx of tourists, and hotel occupancy is up.
“It was really a good last weekend, particularly on Saturday night. I don’t have any numbers yet for this weekend, but we expect it to be a nice little bump for our hotels and I think everybody is just excited to have Mardi Gras back,” said Berthelot.
Berthelot said in addition to the regular Krewes that roll in Lafayette they also held a COVID heroes parade honoring those who helped them get through the pandemic.
As for Fat Tuesday, Berthelot said they’ll have three parades rolling and things kick off at 10 am with King Gabriel and culminates with the Independent parade.
“The weather is going to be great. If you’re itching to get here at the last moment you still have time to come over for the night and enjoy a great day of Mardi Gras tomorrow,” said Berthelot.
Like other areas of the state, Berthelot said the pandemic has severely hurt the hospitality industry and he’s hopeful now that carnival season has been such a boost to the industry that it’s just the beginning for 2022.
“We’ll roll straight from Mardi Gras into Festivals Acadiens et Creole, and Festival International, so this is just a start of a very big spring for us are we’re really excited our tourism and economy is coming back strong,” said Berthelot.
For a list of Mardi Gras activities click here.
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