Utah Utes football: Sugar Bowl holds hopes for New Orleans tourism

NEW ORLEANS - When the Sugar Bowl fans began arriving en masse, their presence heralded by their team colors, artist Reggie Ford did something he said he hadn't done on a Wednesday all year: he set up shop along a main promenade in the French Quarter - and began to capitalize.

"It's so busy," he said, keeping an eye on a woman and young girl trying to decide which print to buy as others walked by. "This is prime real estate."

Many New Orleans-area businesses and artists that rely on tourists hope Friday night's Alabama-Utah game gets 2009 off to a good start and provides a much-needed lift after a year that began with great promise but wound up rocked by another hurricane and consumer jitters.

Hotels are reporting "average" occupany for a Sugar Bowl, which a good sign given the national recession, said Mavis Early, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association.

While she couldn't say how fully the city was booked, tens of thousands of fans are expected.

"I think you can say, it's a good time for the tourism industry and ... there will be a good economic impact," she said.

Kelly Teal hopes so, especially after a holiday shopping season that was only "kind of OK," for the store where she works, Purse Fetish.

This week, business has been "good, really good," she said, with shoppers favoring the sunglasses and purses on sale. "People are buying. They're nice."

Tourism officials, while voicing optimism about 2009, are waiting to see if the sluggish economy prompts businesses to send fewer attendees to conventions or keep other travelers at home. One possible indicator will come next month, when the city hosts one of its first major tourist events of the year, Mardi Gras.

All this comes with many small businesses not yet recovered from Hurricane Katrina, which hit in August 2005. Momentum generated early in 2008 - when the city successfully hosted a series of high-profile events, including the national college football championship, NBA All-Star game and perennial favorite Jazz Fest - was stalled when the city was ordered evacuated over the typically busy Labor Day weekend for Hurricane Gustav. A light fall convention schedule didn't help.

"We knew going in it would be a challenging season for us," said Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the New Orleans' convention and visitors' bureau. "But, on the flip side, for 2009, we are ahead of the curve."

At least seven conventions have already been booked for June and July - typically slow months for the city's bread-and-butter tourism industry because of the hot, sticky weather. That's in a period when perhaps two conventions, in addition to the Essence music festival, is considered nice going.