I came across this article online. I’ll place the link to it at the bottom. It’s by Carolyn Ware and called Marketing Mardi Gras: Heritage Tourism In Rural Acadiana. Ware is an insider on the tourism industry and she explains the way it worked and works. She concentrates on the Eunice et the Tee-Mamou Mardi Gras.
Ware’s article shows how tourism is good for the culture and how it can be bad. Certain things that are done are “adjusted” to fit the tourist aspect of it. Tee-Mamou Mardi Gras, for example, changed certain things when they arrive in Iota for the festival; the festival is where the outsiders are and they have to be mindful of that. Things done in the country, among friends and family, are the real deal. Eunice is constantly getting bigger and certain things happened that were not thought of before.
It's a great article and I just gave the gist of it. She talks about the history of Mardi Gras when it was not popular and how it revived; Eunice fought hard to make what Eunice is today; the tourism industry has to walk a fine line in order to promote but not “kill” the culture, etc. There is much more within the article.
I’ll also put links to Mardi Gras sites to see what she’s talking about.
Ware's article
http://www.iotamardigras.com/main.html
http://www.lsue.edu/acadgate/eunmard.htm