When local tourism’s most established entrepreneur Warren Reuther, Jr. christens the new 3,000 passenger Riverboat Louis Armstrong on Saturday afternoon, it will be a crowning achievement of an almost 50 year career as a visionary leader in the tourism industry.
The owner of Hospitality Enterprises and Big Easy.com, Reuther employs more than 500 people and currently operates a diverse array of interrelated businesses including hotels, restaurants and convention facilities in Natchez, Mississippi; Natchitoches, Louisiana; and Playa Del Carmen, Mexico; the Paddlewheeler Creole Queen; New Orleans Tours; On the Town Concierge; Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours; Destination New Orleans Management Inc.; New Orleans Airport Shuttle; and Hop On Hop Off New Orleans. Reuther is recognized as the dean of New Orleans tourism, having served 10 years as chairman of the Morial Convention Center and 12 years as chairman of the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau, now New Orleans & Co. In addition Reuther was instrumental in helping develop the cruise ship industry in New Orleans by lobbying for the passage of legislation that allowed the ships to keep their casinos open while traveling to and from the mouth of the Mississippi River. A decade later, the success of cruise ships and cruise-ship gaming paved the way for the passage of riverboat gaming legislation that Reuther also nurtured, and eventually our land-based casino. Born in the 9th Ward, Reuther attended St.