This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

No matter how much metro New Orleans tries to diversify its economy, tourism remains our number one economic engine.  Oil and gas, the port, and bio-med are all part of our growing economy, but tourism is still king.  And we are on the brink of not only a new year, 2013,  but a new tourism season as well.

It all starts next week with the annual Sugar Bowl game at the Superdome.  A few weeks after that its Mardi Gras 2013.   Right in the middle of this year’s carnival season we host our 10th Super Bowl.  And a couple of months after that, we host the Women’s Final Four basketball championship at the New Orleans Arena.

That’s four major events expected to generate around $1 billion of economic impact to our region, and all 4 take place within the next 100 days.  That’s about a $10 million per day impact over the next 3 months for metro New Orleans.

Oil and gas, the port, and bio-med help diversify our economy, but tourism and those tourist dollars are still the number one economic engine in New Orleans.