Shreveport - Bossier Attractions Draw Groups to Louisiana’s Other Side Shreveport may not have the sex appeal of New Orleans, but this bubbling metro area in Northwest Louisiana abounds with group-friendly things to do and keeps adding to the list. Clearly on the upswing, it offers a tantalizing mix of big-city pizzazz and small-town sense of community. Points of interest are close together, and many are within walking distance of downtown hotels. Above all, Shreveport and its neighbor across the Red River, Bossier City, present a dynamic entertainment scene. Rousing festivals, grand casino hotels and a growing film industry have put “Louisiana’s Other Side” on the tourist map. The Shreveport-Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau, in partnership with the city’s film office, recently introduced the state’s first-ever film trail, a selfdirected tour that highlights productions filmed in and around Caddo and Bossier parishes. Some 72 movies and TV shows have been filmed in the area in recent years. The trail has 21 stops. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Shreveport’s star began to rise as Hollywood moviemakers looked to the corner of the state bordering Arkansas and Texas—a region known as Ark-LaTex. They liked the lower costs of doing business, the pool of production talent (both acting and technical) that already existed and the variety of landscapes, from forests and farms to classic Southern towns with courthouse squares. Locations in and around Shreveport have been used to portray places as diverse as Paris, Seattle, New York and West Africa. Local governments have aggressively courted the film industry with tax incentives as film production has become a major industry. Continued...
For more information contact: Shreveport-Bossier CTB, 800-551-8682, www.shreveport-bossier.org