Labor Day weekend is the kind of summer holiday that usually sends about 100,000 tourists to New Orleans, but the possible threat of Gustav sent many of those visitors scrambling to cancel.

Alfred Gross, general manager of the Royal Sonesta Hotel, says he was expecting a fully booked weekend.  "But of course, Gustav has taken the wind out of those sails."  Over the last several days, Gross says he’s lost about half of his reservations.

Several thousand tourists, however, are still estimated to be in New Orleans, many in town for the Southern Decadence Festival, an annual gay pride celebration stretching over several days.  Men celebrating shirtless in the French Quarter on Friday, paired with National Guard Humvees rolling around the city, proved to be the kind of combination only Decadence Fest and the threat of a major hurricane could collectively bring.  Now, however, the thousands of tourists in town for the Labor Day weekend, may be forced to cut their trips short.

"It's pretty unsettling," said Jeremy Lochirco, who is vacationing from San Francisco.  "I was anticipating spending the whole full weekend here."

While New Orleans Hotels are already boarding up in preparation for Gustav, they will not be allowed to stay open if a city wide evacuation is called.  The policy change went into affect after Katrina, and if Gustav becomes a threat this could be the first time it is ever implemented."

"The visitors will have to leave, just like the residents," said Mary Beth Romig, director of communications for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Ellen Friedman, in town from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, decided to leave early herself out of fear she could soon be forced to during a hectic evacuation.

"I came in yesterday, and I'm leaving now tomorrow.”

Romig says depending on Gustav's path, tourists who drove into New Orleans, could soon be instructed to drive right back out.  If a mandatory evacuation is called, Romig says the city also has a plan in place to evacuate visitors who arrived by plane.

"You will be instructed by your hotel manager to either go to the Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street or the Harrah's Hotel where they'll have buses ready to take visitors that have proof of their airline reservation in hand," said Romig.

Those tourists would be bussed to the airport, where airline officials would work to get them on a flight home.

Gross says no tourist will be left behind.  "If the airport is closed for any reason or if there are no flights that can assist they will bus them to another airport either west, east, or north, depending on which way the storm is progressing.