New Orleans officials will be crunching numbers to determine the success of the 2012 Mardi Gras. Some early indications are promising.
The president of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation says this year’s Mardi Gras could be a record-holder. Mark Romig says hotels were almost full. And he says recent reports on high-profile sporting events held in New Orleans could have helped draw more visitors than the estimated one million who came last year.
“We still don’t have our official numbers but my sense from looking at the crowds from the street as I was riding down St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street that we will certainly be at that number.”
That ride was on a horse in the Rex parade.
“The crowd felt so large and so friendly and they were so deep along the route. My sense is that we had the numbers that we thought we were going to have this year.”
Romig says final estimates will be determined after meetings with police and other agencies.
