Mardi Gras Sparking Controversy

Big Question In Big Easy: Should It Be Held?

(CBS)  The alligator tours are back in New Orleans.

And bit by bit, reports CBS News correspondent Trish Regan, tourists from around the world, such as Steve Sinden of Great Britain, are returning to the Big Easy.

"We wanted to come here," he says, "to see the atmosphere, hear the jazz. We're really pleased and we're having a great time."

But, for Swamp Tour owner Chris Smits, there simply aren't enough tourists.

He says business is just 2 percent to 3 percent of what it was before the Hurricane Katrina. And Smits wonders how he'll stay afloat.

Is he scared?

"Hell, yeah, I'm scared. I'm terrified. … Everything's on the line right now."

Before Katrina, Regan points out, tourism was the No. 1 New Orleans industry, bringing in $5.5 billion a year. The city estimates it's now losing more than $15 million a day as tourists take their business elsewhere.

New Orleans has just 18,000 hotel rooms available, half of what it had prior to Katrina, and most are occupied by Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel and relief workers.

Believe it or not, Regan observes, disaster tours may be the only addition to the local tourism industry. At least one such tour has Fats Domino's house, the one where he was feared to have drowned, on its run.

And, adds Regan, for a city that was once all about a good time, the key to recovery may be bringing good times back.

And that, many feel, means Mardis Gras, which is scheduled to start the third week of February.

Still, the mere idea of a big party when so many in New Orleans are struggling with tremendous loss, is fueling controversy.

In a recent town meeting, an angry resident said, "Nobody wants no Mardi Gras: We haven't got no place to live!"

Regan says a lot of people think this isn't the time to be spending money on Mardi Gras.

But others, such as Sandra Shilstone of the Tourism Marketing Corporation, say just the opposite is true: "If are going to rebuild New Orleans, we need to bring tourists back to the city of New Orleans."

At Mardi Gras World, where they build many of the floats for the big event, people are obviously hopeful that the festival returns. Officials say it's worth more than two Super Bowls, since it brings in well over $1 billion and employs 75,000 people.