The head of the Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau went with Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and others to the United Kingdom and Germany recently.

What are the intended outcomes of such a trip for the visitors bureau? Is it true that no airfare or hotel discounts were offered to the participants?

How many Germans visit and stay in Lake Charles each year? Why are such expensive trips necessary? The visitors bureau is funded with taxpayer money.

Two officials with the Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau took part in the Louisiana Office of Tourism’s marketing trip, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, said Angie Manning, a spokeswoman for the bureau.

Anne Klenke, the bureau’s tourism director, went to Germany, and agency head Shelley Johnson went to England, Manning said. A preliminary version of the trip’s itinerary — dated June 29 — listed the cost per participant as $2,000 and said that “only one delegate per company is allowed to participate at the same time.”

Manning said that cost covered both Klenke and Johnson because each women took part in separate legs of the trip. 

“Anne Klenke departed Lake Charles on 9/24, arrived in Frankfurt on 9/25 and departed Frankfurt on 10/2. Shelley Johnson departed Lake Charles on 9/28, arrived in London on 9/29 and departed from London on October 6,” Manning wrote in an email.

“Both employees checked out of the host hotels at the end of their respective missions and took earned vacation time at their own expense.”

The trip, led by Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, included people from 17 tourism agencies and groups, along with officials from the state tourism office. Its goal, Manning said, was “to establish relationships and communicate the full breadth of what international travelers can experience while in Louisiana.”

During the trip, she said, the state’s delegation met with over 40 tour operators from four cities and spoke about Southwest Louisiana to a half-dozen or so international journalists. The delegates all received discounted rates on their hotel rooms thanks to the efforts of two firms — Wiechmann and TTS — hired by the state, Manning said.

Germany and the United Kingdom ranked first and second last year among countries of origin for people on “long haul international visits” to the state, she said. German carrier Condor Airlines began offering direct flights between New Orleans and Frankfurt in May, and British Airways launched non-stop New Orleans-London service two months earlier.

Manning said these newly forged links between Louisiana and Europe make it “vital to meet with tour operators, travel professionals and media to ensure the success and growth of these markets.” 

She said Southwest Louisiana should see “receptive tour operator bookings of international visitors” jump 25 percent by the end of the year thanks to the relationships state tourism officials built with their counterparts abroad.

The visitors bureau, whose mission is to market Calcasieu Parish as a tourism destination, is funded by a 4 percent tax on overnight accommodations in the parish. According to the bureau’s most recent financial report, released in July, tax proceeds last year totaled $5,792,836.

For more information, www.visitlakecharles.com.