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Gray Line to Offer Katrina Tours

December 16, 2005

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Gray Line New Orleans will begin giving visitors a closeup look next month at Hurricane Katrina's damage in New Orleans. Like gawkers at a highway accident, tourists will get a first-hand look at America's worst catastrophe.

According to the company, participants will get an eyewitness account of the events surrounding the most devastating natural disaster on American soil. The company's promotional material promises:

• "Learn the history of the original city, the French Quarter, and why it was built at this particular location along the Mississippi River.

• "We'll drive past an actual levee that "breached" and see the resulting devastation that displaced hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents.

• "The direct connection between America's disappearing coastal wetlands, oil & gas pipelines, levee protection and hurricane destruction will be explained.

• "Your tour guide will give a local's chronology of events leading up to Hurricane Katrina and the days immediately following the disaster.

• "You'll be amazed at the volume and variety of products 'offloaded' in the multimodal port of New Orleans, the second largest port in the country, and then distributed to your hometown.

• "Did you know that 30% of the seafood (fish, crabs, shrimp, oysters, and crawfish) harvested in the lower 48 states comes from the coastal wetlands in South Louisiana?

• "After this tour, you'll have a better understanding of events pre- and post- Katrina and the 'Rebirth of New Orleans!"

"Since so many of our employees, including myself, lost our home and possessions, this tour will be operated with the utmost sensitivity to the thousands of local residents still trying to get their lives back in order." Gray Line New Orleans Vice President Greg Hoffman said.

The tour is expected approximately three hours and will run Wednesdays through Sundays, from Jan. 4 - Feb. 27. The cost is $35 for adults and $28 for children.

The company said that $3 of each fare will be donated to a non-profit organization of the participant's choice (1 of 5) that has been directly affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

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