[Off-topic] -PiLoT-:
ive put corrections in red suggestions in blue and debatable language differences in green

i may have missed some so u may wanna wait until theres some more input

also it seems a bit short,

you may want to include a few examples to make it relatable

ie maybe note how the swine flu break out affected tourism in mexico (ask orb3000 or + que ppc to help as they live there)

and maybe comment upon on how tourism in new york and the rest of the usa

here are somw tips you could maybe include

# Tourism generates more than $3.5 trillion worldwide

# 18 million Americans are employed in travel and tourism-related jobs

# One out of every 10 people is employed in travel & tourism

# T&T generated $99.5 billion in revenue for federal, state and local governments in 2000

State of the Industry after September 11:

# Airlines: experienced $2.1B in losses and more than 130,000 layoffs

# Employment: domestically, 10percent drop in demand; Globally, 30percent drop in demand

# Hotels: $2B lost in room revenue

# Meeting & Convention Industry: Up to $1B lost

you may also feel the need to extend this further to include natural affects on tourism, we do know that people entering a land not enterde much can have unwanted effects on the land

but in the case of new orleans, the nature staved off a lot of tourists for some time. this may or may not have made the job of fixing the place up slower as there waws no revenue from tourists they did try harder though heres a news clipabout it

Six months after Hurricane Katrina, Mardi Gras floats, beads and revelry are luring in visitors, and helping New Orleans' devastated tourism industry roll toward recovery.

"For us it will be a little bit smaller than prior years. But the way everybody is looking at it here, it's sort of the community planting the flag in the ground saying 'We're back,'" said Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Perry expects the city to see only 60 or 70 percent of the usual number of Mardi Gras visitors this year -- 300,000 to 400,000 people. (Let the good times roll)

Hospitality is the largest industry in New Orleans, having employed 85,000 people before Katrina and generating about a third of the city's operating budget, according to Perry. Before Mardi Gras, tourism had rebounded to about half its normal level.

Mardi Gras usually brings in about $300 million in tourist dollars, and Perry expects at least $200 million this year.

"This launches the recovery of not only the city and its economics, but paves the way for people to begin to come home because it provides the funding that we need for things like schools and hospitals and police," he said.

Jamie Hood, 40, from Atlanta, Georgia, visited the Crescent City with friends last weekend as Mardi Gras celebrations kicked off.

"The parades were wonderful. From that aspect we had a great time and it was just like the old days," he said. Hood is a logistics and transportation provider, making his third Mardi Gras trip in as many years.

Not everything was just like the old days, of course. The neighborhoods he and his friends passed through shocked them.

"You hear the terms 'war zone' or 'it looked like a bomb went off' -- I couldn't describe it any better. That's really what it looked like," Hood said. "The actual French Quarter was the same as it always was to me."

Many of the city's tourist attractions are open for business. Others plan to reopen later in the spring and summer. MORE HERE (from cnn)