New Orleans tour bus company sold to American Safety | Business News

A Belle Chasse-based transportation and contracting company has acquired New Orleans Tours, the 51-year-old bus company co-founded by local hospitality industry veteran Warren Reuther.
American Safety, a 5-year-old firm that also provides disaster relief services, closed on the deal on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson. Terms, including the sale price, were not disclosed.
New Orleans Tours was owned by Reuther’s Hospitality Enterprises, which also operates New Orleans Paddlewheels, Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours, City Sightseeing Tours and Airport Shuttle New Orleans.
New Orleans Tours said it serves tens of thousands of passengers annually, providing bus rides to cruise ship terminals, festivals, events, hotels, the convention center and other regional locations.
Founded in 2019 to provide safety training to refineries and other clients, American Safety has expanded to provide transportation, disaster relief, general contracting and other services to clients across the Gulf South.
American Safety President and CEO Corey Rosales said he has roughly 200 full-time employees working in Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. In Louisiana, transportation has become the biggest part of the business.
In an interview, Rosales said the “planets aligned” for the New Orleans Tours deal to happen.
“We were looking to expand our transportation division, and the timing seemed to be of the essence with the Super Bowl coming to town,” he said. “We saw an opportunity with New Orleans Tours because it’s been such a staple for the last 50 years.”
Hospitality Enterprises President Craig Smith said “this was the right opportunity from the right partner at the right time.” He said the company will “maintain its position as the leader in river and swamp tours as well as airport and convention support.”
American Safety’s fleet includes motor coaches, school buses, sprinter vans, entertainer coaches and executive cars. The company provides site worker transport, disaster worker transport, inter-city shuttles, tours, and disaster command centers.
New Orleans Tours, which owns motor coaches and minibuses, focuses on tour groups, airport shuttles, conventions, sports events and festivals. It provides transportation for the Zurich Classic golf tournament and operates the shuttle for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
A young company on a roll
After founding American Safety to provide training for petrochemical plants and other industrial customers, Rosales saw an opportunity four years ago to provide transportation to and from job sites.
A year later, the company began providing other types of transportation. Taking on no outside investment, Rosales said he has acquired a fleet of roughly 200 vehicles. The New Orleans Tours acquisition brings with it an additional 18 buses but, more importantly, a recognizable brand.
Rosales said he plans to keep all existing New Orleans Tours staff while adding more vehicles and personnel. The New Orleans Tours operation will stay at its current location in the 4200 block of Howard Avenue for at least the next few months.
A tourism legacy
A half century ago, Warren Reuther co-founded New Orleans Tours to provide rides for visitors to a family-owned RV park in New Orleans East. The park is long gone, but the tour company grew over the decades to be involved in many aspects of the hospitality industry.

Warren L. Reuther Jr., of BigEasy.com / Hospitality Enterprises
Reuther, who owns hotels in Natchitoches and Natchez, Miss., was president of the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau (now New Orleans & Company) and helped manage statewide tourism initiatives. In 2024, Craig Smith, who had been with the company for 40 years, took over as president of Hospitality Enterprises.
Smith said the sale of New Orleans Tours allows the company to focus on other aspects of its business.
“This is a great outcome for our employees and clients, ensuring New Orleans Tours continues to be an outstanding local tour bus brand,” he said.
In 2017, Hospitality Enterprises bought a 3,000-passenger riverboat for an undisclosed price and spent tens of millions of dollars renovating it. In 2019, the Riverboat Louis Armstrong debuted as a site for meetings and special events, but the pandemic sank the company’s business plan and in 2023 the riverboat went on the market for $16 million. It is still for sale.
Super Bowl a chance to score big
Super Bowl LIX, scheduled for Feb. 9 in the Caesars Superdome, is expected to create significant demand for transportation providers.
Rosales wants a piece of the action.
He said his company is an NFL-approved vendor through the Super Bowl LIX Source Program — a designation for local New Orleans businesses selected to compete for contracts.
He said the company is acquiring additional motor coaches, executive cars and shuttle buses to get ready for the big game.
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