Top Louisiana CTB

The Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau was named the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association’s Outstanding CTB of the Year among agencies with annual budgets of at least $750,000. Leveraged partnerships, fiscal responsibility, consistent branding and marketing, and positive sales efforts are the reasons the bureau was honored.

“We are humbled to received the high honor of the CTB of the Year and to be recognized by the state and our peers for our hard work and dedication to growing tourism in northwest Louisiana,” says Stacy Brown, president of the bureau. “Our efforts have strengthened tourism overall and generated increased revenue in taxes for Caddo and Bossier parishes, as well as the state of Louisiana.”

Shreveport-Bossier led the state in hotel occupancy every month last year, ending 2009 with a 68.4 percent occupancy rate while adding hotel inventory throughout the year. Louisiana’s year-to-year date average was 57.4 percent; Baton Rouge, 58.5; Lafayette, 51; and New Orleans, 57.7.

In January, the 119-room Courtyard Shreveport-Bossier City opened on the Louisiana Boardwalk steps from retail, dining and entertainment on the riverfront.