“1.21 million passengers boarded or got off a cruise ship in 2024, according to the Port of New Orleans.” according to NOLA.com.
The French originally founded the city of New Orleans in 1718 to control access to the Gulf of Mexico. (They established their city in the land of Bulbancha, the land of many tongues, frequented by local indigenous tribes who had been using the land as a meeting spot for thousands of years.)
New Orleans is still valued as a door to the Gulf of Mexico.
