Josh Duffy draws a chalk banner in front of the Bourbon Pride store in New Orleans in Jan. 4, 2024. It reads: Hate never wins. Stay Strong NOLA. The store on Bourbon Street is six blocks from where terrorist Shamsud-Bin Jabbar killed 14 people and injured 37 more in a terrorist attack early New Year’s Day. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
NEW ORLEANS – Husband and wife Cary Rogers and Christy Bagley became official owners of Buffa’s Restaurant and Bar on Jan. 1 – the same day a terrorist drove a speeding pickup truck through three blocks of Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring 37 others.
The tragic events a week ago left the new proprietors grieving for those lost and concerned for their business, they said. They worry the attack will drive people away from visiting the city.
“Once tourists are not coming to town – be it because of the heat, hurricanes, economy, or the crime – the hospitality industry takes a hit,” Rogers said.
Although they just gained ownership, Rogers and Bagley have long ties to the nightlife institution on the edge of the French Quarter. Buffa’s has been open since 1939, and Rogers’ family has owned it since 2010. Rogers and Bagley started managing the business in June 2023 and weathered a financially tough 2024 before taking it over.
“The past year has been a challenge to say the least for us,” Rogers said.
Reaction from Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, the state’s top tourism official, since the terrorist attack has been largely negative and aimed at New Orleans leadership and lack of preparedness.
The most recent annual visitor numbers he provided were from 2023, when 44 million people came to Louisiana for a leisure or business trip. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the state had five record-breaking years for tourism, he said.
“I was predicting that 2025 would set a new record,” Nungesser said.
“We don’t know the total effects of this tragedy yet, and hopefully we can rebound quickly and make everybody feel comfortable coming to Louisiana,” he added.
Authorities say Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, an IT worker and Army veteran from Texas, acted alone when he picked New Orleans to carry out his extremist terror attack. He was killed in a shootout with police after crashing his truck into a hydraulic platform vehicle.
Multiple investigations are taking place into the city’s safety measures, with the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras fast approaching.
“There are definite economic impacts to regions based on terrorist attacks,” said Lori Pennington-Gray, a professor at the University of South Carolina and director of its SmartState Center for Economic Excellence in Tourism. “Typically what happens is there’s a short response by the market where there’s sometimes some cancellations that happen, a rescheduling of events.”
The Sugar Bowl, originally scheduled on the night of Jan. 1, was delayed one day out of security concerns. Attendance came in at about 16% less than ticket sales indicated, with 57,000 people showing up to the Superdome.
Ali Bustamante, a University of New Orleans professor and director of its Division of Business and Economic Research, said the Bourbon Street attack might not have a huge effect on a city economy that’s already fighting to recover from recent setbacks.
“When we think about just, the prevalence of mass killing events in the U.S, sadly, they’re not isolated in one place,” Bustamante said. “There’s really not going to be a profound effect on New Orleans, per se, just because I think people kind of bake in already the possibility and risk of events happening throughout the country.”
The hospitality industry in New Orleans and Louisiana has “never fully recovered” from the pandemic, although elsewhere nationally it has.
“I think it’s important to contextualize … if the baseline is already kind of like a trend towards a declining hospitality industry, that’s something that was put in motion prior to this past week’s events,” he said. “The pandemic really had a very structural impact on hospitality in the region.”
Another central feature that comes into play when terrorism impacts tourism is official response to safety concerns.
“That’s really going to be a key element moving forward: Whether the city can really project a very different kind of sense of security, given the recent breakdown in security that ultimately led to this event,” Bustamane said.
Pennington-Gray said a key recovery element in the wake of a terror attack is reliable and accessible safety information for visitors and residents alike.
“It’s really about being proactive, being timely and being accurate, and making sure that … the industry is continuously putting that information out there,” she said.
Reinforcing that message with tangible reaction from visitors can ensure a fragile tourism economy maintains its integrity, according to Pennington-Gray. People will keep a close eye on how the state and city work to improve security for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras season to assess if visiting feels safe, she said.
When those events come up, the availability and visibility of police and regularly updated safety information will reassure visitors and attract future ones, she said.
“It’s really on the city now to kind of like, push forward this messaging that this was an isolated event, that the failures on the side of the city to not make that area more protected … have been addressed,” Bustamante said.
Nungesser has reignited his push toward state management of the French Quarter. He’s proposed creating a historic district that puts the area under the control of his office.
He points to examples in Nashville, Tennessee, and San Diego where special entertainment districts have been carved out from the city as a whole and become more successful as a result.
“There’s not enough voters in the Quarter to ever make City Council and the mayor put the effort they need to make it safe, keep it clean and make it the best it can be,” Nungesser said.
In 2018, the lieutenant governor introduced the idea to turn the French Quarter into a state park. Multiple state museums and properties that he oversees are located in the neighborhood, including the Cabildo and half of the Pontalba Apartments.
City officials and tourism leaders in New Orleans have largely balked at Nungesser’s suggestions.
At Buffa’s, Rogers said he is seeing business as usual despite the attack but remains frustrated by the city’s response. He cited a months-long process to replace safety bollards along Bourbon Street, which resulted in having no protection on the night Jabbar executed his terror plan.
“Why does it take more than a month to replace bollards or take proper precautions to prevent such a tragedy – like preventative measures to keep vehicles off the sidewalks?” Rogers said.