Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs discusses the possible motives behind the recent attack in New Orleans and the Vegas explosion on ‘Making Money’.
Travel experts don’t believe that the New Year’s terrorist attack in New Orleans will affect tourism in the coming months.
“Given that everyone has different ideas about what’s safe, it would be a shame to cancel plans to visit the Big Easy because of a terrorist attack,” Clint Henderson, editor-in-chief of The Points Guy, told FOX Business.
According to authorities, Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar was driving by truck through the crowd on Bourbon Street in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, killing 15 people and injuring dozens of others. Jabbar, who died at the scene of the attack, was a US citizen who lived in Texas.
Police said the suspect died after jumping out of his pickup truck and exchanging fire with responding officers.
“Bourbon Street has already reopened and the city is relying on tourism dollars for the next big events in town, including Mardi Gras, the Super Bowl and Jazz Fest,” Henderson told FOX Business. “The best thing you can do to support the community is to keep your plans to visit.”
Revelers walk down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter during Mardi Gras Day on February 16, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Patrick Semansky/Getty Images)/Getty Images)
It’s a particularly good time to visit given that “local officials will be extra cautious,” according to Henderson.
Henderson expects tourism to take a hit in the short term, but hopes “local businesses won’t have to wait too long for visitors and spending to recover.”
Similar to Henderson, Gilbert Ott, head of partnerships at award travel platform godssavethepoints.com, told FOX Business that destinations like New Orleans “recover very quickly when incidents happen.”
Suspect identified as FBI INVESTIGATES ACT OF TERRORISM AFTER BOURBON STREET ATTACK
“I know that the international community, thanks to the excitement that New Orleans is attracting around the world, will rally around this historic city as before,” Ott said, adding that “travelers flying into New Orleans typically book their travel weeks to months in advance — for big events like the Super Bowl, or events like bachelor and bachelorette parties or 40th birthday parties, they still come, as they should.”
Police checkpoints in and around Bourbon Street after a vehicle plowed into New Year’s crowds in the tourist district, local authorities said in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States on January 1, 2025. (Patt Little/Anadolu via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Daniel Green, co-founder of Faye Travel Insurance, agreed that “people are unlikely to change either their appetite or their travel behaviour.” He believes events such as the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras will be as full as previously expected.
However, Green noted that travelers who may be nervous can always take advantage of things like “Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR)” insurance, which is designed to allow people to cancel their plans within pre-defined time frames and get back a large amount of their investment. you invested in your trip.
Meanwhile, the investigation is still ongoing. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.
A top Louisiana attorney is vowing to take on those believed to be involved in the Bourbon Street terror attack.
FBI investigators arrive at the scene of a white Ford F-150 pickup truck that crashed into a working elevator after allegedly plowing into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana on January 1, 2025. (MATTHEW HINTON/AFP via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
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Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill posted on X: “We have the death penalty in Louisiana and we will carry it out!
Murrill told Fox News there was evidence multiple people were involved, but declined to share further details.
FOX Business’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
