The Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is the official destination marketing organization for the southwestern region of Louisiana, recently received two Louey awards at the Lt. Governor's Annual Tourism Summit for the state. These include Convention and Visitors Bureau of the Year with a budget of $750,000 and Tourism Campaign of the Year.

The Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana CVB team was honored for several major initiatives they took on in 2012. They held a large homecoming celebration for American Idol finalist and local talent Josh Ledet, which they put together in only two weeks and helped enhance recognition of the destination on the widely watched reality television show.

In addition, the CVB held an awareness campaign during National Tourism Week that included several events to raise the public's awareness of tourism's effects on the region. Over the course of the weeklong campaign, the bureau saw a 48 percent increase in visitation.

As the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana CVB is a valued Simpleview client, we are proud of their successes and are glad that the Louey awards committee has recognized the bureau's hard work over the past year. For more information about the awards, read the full article on ZacharyToday.com.