Is NOLA safe for tourists???

Due to the increasing crime rate, is NOLA safe for tourists?

I heard on NBC nightly news that the crime rate had gone up 100% and that murders were up. My husband and I visited NOLA in August 2003 and felt quite safe. We also know enough to travel smart.

Is there anything or anywhere we need to be particularly careful?

We will be visiting there in October 2007.

Thanks.

Is NOLA safe for tourists???

In a word, yes. We try not to harm tourists. :-)

Seriously, 95% of the violent crime rate is drug-related and in poor neighborhoods far from the Quarter.

Read this forum for more info. This has been discussed before.

Is NOLA safe for tourists???

My wife %26amp; I felt extremely safe walking the Quarter over NYEve trip. We actually walked more streets than we had in the past, %26amp; ventured into the Marigny where our B%26amp;B was. It was a great crowd %26amp; lots of tourists. Not one incident anywhere that we heard of. We%26#39;re headed back for Halloween.

Be careful of comparative statistics especially comparing to post Katrina when so much of the city was empty and devastated-residential areas. As CajunWave indicated the violent crimes are almost all drug related and far away from tourist areas and usually in the very very late hours. I%26#39;ve roamed the streets in the tourist areas and never even came close to a problem in 27 years.

This is a copy of what I wrote when I returned home from my trip last weekend:

To anyone who is thinking about a vacation to New Orleans –go, go, go and enjoy yourselves!! I just got back from New Orleans last night. It was mine and my boyfriend’s first visit and we had a BLAST!!!

I am going to give a trip report in another post, because I want to use this post to tell about the condition of the city from a tourist point of view. I just want to say that the city is SAFE, and I would go back tomorrow and take my 9 year old son and not think twice about it. We drove all over New Orleans (in every kind of neighborhood) and did not feel unsafe or unwanted at any time. The locals are kind, hospitable, and gracious for your visit. The French Quarter is beautiful, busy, safe and secure, policed, and (for a tourist/busy city) clean! No smells except when walking by a garbage dumpster, but that happens in my own town!

I saw some of the damage from Katrina and I just want to say to all of the people who live and lived there that my heart goes out to you. I am a teacher and I will make sure that I educate my students as to what happened and how thousands of lives have been changed. One of the messages that I got many times during my visit was that the floods hit all neighborhoods. Rich, poor, middle class, everyone was affected by this tragedy. I saw the expensive and the poor neighborhoods, and they ALL had vacant, damaged, and rebuilt homes and buildings. I will never forget what I saw and will do my best to educate about and promote the wonderful city NEW ORLEANS!!!

change my eyebrow shape