Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
Table 1 
Population and Ethnicity in the City of the of New Orleans 
 
Pre-Katrina Population
a
 
 
Parish 
(
County
)

Population 
% of Whites 
% of Afr.
Americans 
 
Orleans
454,863 
28.0 
67.5 
Jefferson Parish
452,824 
66.2 
26.7 
 
Post-Katrina Population
b
 
Parish 
(
County
)

Population 
% of Whites 
% of Afr.
Americans 
Orleans
191,139
42.7 
47.0 
Jefferson
434,666
61.2 
25.9 
 
a. Source: McCarthy, K., Peterson, D., Sastry, N., & Pollard, M. (March 2006).
b. Source: Louisiana Health and Population Survey (2006a,b).
 
METHODOLOGY 
A survey questionnaire was used to collect the opinions of residents of the city of New Orleans in October 
2006, a little more that a year after Hurricane Katrina. The survey included questions regarding (1) residents 
attitudes towards tourism measured by 22 statements (negative and positive) on 5-point scales (strongly agree to 
strongly disagree); (2) residents support for tourism development (8 items on 5-point scales similar to above); (3) 
perceived opinions of tourism before and after Hurricane Katrina; (4) preference for residing in New Orleans (5) 
impact of Hurricane Katrina on residential life; and (6) demographics. Attitude and development questions were 
similar to those used in previous studies including Chen (2000), McGehee and Andereck, 2004, among others. The 
survey was pilot tested with a small sample of Generation Y residents and changes were made to improve the 
precision and understandability of the questions. 
Given the magnitude of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, where many of the residents of New 
Orleans were still displaced from their homes, collecting data from a representative sample of current residents was 
extremely challenging. Since snowball sampling is a good method to reach populations that are not easily 

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