re: Approximately what year do you think Tourism got out of hand in NOLA?

Same thing with almost every decent beach, Mardi Gras, Disney World, stadiums/arenas (NFL stadiums, SEC football stadiums, etc), and other tourism draws. The country's population is more than twice what it was 65 years ago but very few of those places got bigger or grew to accommodate significantly more visitors. You end up either tripping over a very dense crowd or paying out the nose to enjoy a game or visit some place you like.

Same reason that many elements of our highway infrastructure that hasn't been upgraded recently isn't working well for us when it was not a problem 30-40 years ago. There's just more people, more traffic, more of everything.

It's a great thing that the gulf coast and New Orleans is such a tourism magnet. That helps places like Louisiana keep a lot of restaurants and hotels around that would otherwise never make it. Most of us enjoy the benefits of having such an amazing food culture that's propped up in a big way by tourists that aren't from Louisiana.

You can't really replicate cultural attractions like New Orleans, but you can develop alternatives (like Memphis's Beale Street, Nashville's music scene, or whatever it is they do up in Ohio). And as far as overcrowding in theme parks like Disney - I think many of them are approaching a point where they can justify a full rebuild of iconic properties (like Magic Kingdom) with much larger walkways, more attractions, and more amenities to fit everyone....or possibly even justification to develop another Disney World like tourism hub somewhere in the middle of the US - like Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, or Arkansas.