NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A new paddlewheel riverboat is ready to ride the
Mississippi, set to begin taking tourists on excursions around New Orleans
starting in late January.
The City of New Orleans will be the third paddlewheeler to call this Southern
city of Mardi Gras fame its home.
The New Orleans Steamboat Company owns it as well as another boat – the
Natchez – and says the addition of a new riverboat is a sign visitors are coming back in force since the tourist economy took a hit when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
A century ago, countless paddlewheel riverboats plied the Mississippi and its
tributaries. Now the City of New Orleans is coming full circle, back to
Louisiana where it was built in 1991 before spending years of service as a
casino boat in Rock Island, Illinois.
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