PORT ALLEN - The Louisiana Office of Tourism is highlighting rural tourism through the Louisiana Rural Tourism Byways conference, taking place in Port Allen on Thursday.

Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser told 2une-in's April Davis that the purpose of the conference is to figure out how to get more visitors to rural Louisiana. Nungesser says this year's conference will focus on using artificial intelligence as a tool to do that.

"With the price of gas up, flights up, we're also going to be talking about staycations," Nungesser said. "Luring people from other parts of the state to your community by highlighting parks and museums found there."

Nungesser says the state will host the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW conference in New Orleans in 2027, which is the leading inbound travel trade show in the world.

"The Super Bowl of tourism is coming to New Orleans," Nungesser added. "The government expects 2028, 2029, and 2030 to be boom years for international travel. So next year, hosting that event is gonna give us a leg up on the competition, because every country in the world will be in New Orleans."