Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons
Abstract
Before hurricane Katrina, cultural tourism was Louisiana\u27s second largest industry. Tourism agencies are now imploring potential tourists to visit New Orleans for An eyewitness account of the events surrounding the worst natural disaster on American soil! Economic need is driving tour agencies to construct \u27eco-disaster tourism,\u27 and the construction includes explicit causes of blame. Who is defining the new tourism? How is the controversy surrounding causation being negotiated in eco-disaster tour narratives? e main finding is that the big players in the tourism industry, namely Gray Line Tours, have maneuvered into a powerful position to rewrite the tourism narrative by allying with the state. Gray Lines\u27 narrative blames the oil and gas industry for Katrina\u27s severity, while avoiding pointing fingers at government agencies and officials
