• Merci Phanat Xanamane with Envision daBerry for sending us information on the Lao community and a beautiful picture of the Buddha statue at the Wat Thammarattanaram Buddhist Temple. Phanat is offering tours of the temple by appointment. New brochure coming soon.

• The Louisiana Travel Promotion Association is offering FREE webinars to its members this month. The next webinar will adress Web and social media content development. It will be held this Thursday, June 27 at 1p.m.  Click here for more details.

• See how immigration reform will impact the travel industry and what you can do about it.

• Photographer John E. Adams visited Delcambre last Thursday to take pictures of wooden fishing trawlers. Read the press release here.

• New Iberia Artist Chestee Harrington will exhibit her work at the LSU Rural Life  Museum from June 22 - August 2, 2013. See the press release here.

• The inaugural Farm to Table (F2T) Symposium will be held in New Orleans August 2 - 4, 2013. It will feature the brightest thought leaders and leading practitioners in the burgeoning farm-to-table movement. F2T explores the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of food and drink sourced locally to globally. Topics include farming and aquaculture, fisheries, sustainability, social and digital interactive media, food security and safety, food law and policy, food science and GMO, artisanal and slow food and drink, and fair trade. The symposium takes place in tandem with the Louisiana Restaurant Association's Annual Foodservice & Hospitality EXPO, an event featuring related exhibits and attracting food and beverage professionals from throughout the country. Click here for more.

• ATTENTION SHOP OWNERS! Send us pictures of items you sell at your store and we will promote you in the shopping section of Iberia Sweet Pics.

• ATTENTION ACCOMMODATIONS! Send us pictures of your facility and we will promote you in the "Savor our hospitality" section of Iberia's Sweet Picks, our consumer newsletter, which is sent out every Monday.

• We received the following letter from the Deepwater Horizon Claims Center regarding Gulf Seafood and Tourism Promotional Funds.

• National Geographic's new geotourism initiative

We announced in the last newsletters the launch of this new initiative featuring online, locally-built travel guides. We would like to share the following comments by Doug Bourgeois with Louisiana Byways at the Louisiana Office of Tourism:

"This is a partnership with the National Geographic Society we funded through FHWA and BP grants. It was developed to showcase -under the National Geographic Society umbrella-authentic experiences along the Gulf Coast----Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It's not for casinos, chain type restaurants or big box stores. It one of a kind places to stay, eat, shop, visit, etc ---just like what we showcase along our byways. Please nominate sites in your area and pass this along to anyone who think would qualify. Its free! And we want Louisiana to have lots of points on the map."

Deadline: July 15

Need more details about geotourism? Click here.

For a submission example, click here.

• Phanat Xanamane was featured in the Daily Advertiser last week.

• The LA Riders TV crew filmed our tourism assets last week. LA Riders, the only weekly TV Travel show on Louisiana, will feature Iberia Parish in the upcoming summer season to 22 million subscribers in 12 southern states on the FOX Sports South and FOX Sports Southwest networks. Check out the pictures they took of our area on their Facebook. We'll let you know when the show will be posted on their website.

Like us on Facebook and register to win a weekend getaway sweepstakes: 

• Lake Fausse Pointe State Park was mentionned in LouisianaTravel.com's article on paddling adventures.

• Cajun Hot Sauce Festival Chairman Dana Romero was recently featured on the #1 Hot Sauce Podcast In America. Listen here.