LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – Festival International is getting underway Wednesday evening. The festival is popular with music lovers worldwide, and it brings in quite a bit of money for the local economy.

“We literally will have people from all over the world here this weekend enjoying the festival,” said Ben Berthelot, President/CEO of the Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission.

Vendors, musicians, and many more are getting ready for a busy weekend, and organizers expect even more tourists to turn out to the festival this year.

“Every year we see around about over 400,000 people that come to downtown Lafayette,” said April Courville, Marketing Director for Festival International. “Last year, from the numbers that we looked at we had people from over 10 countries around the world and 49 states.”

“Based on a 2008 economic impact study, we estimate the economic impact of the festival to be somewhere around 49 million,” said Berthelot.

Berthelot said local hotels will also reap the benefits of festival weekend.

“One of the things we’ve seen over the years is that people have now started to schedule meetings and conventions around festival, so they’ll meet during the day and then they’ll come enjoy the festival at night,” said Berthelot.

Berthelot says the festival is just a starting point for some tourists.

“People may come in for festival and they’re going to enjoy the festival, but they’re also going to go experience things like Tabasco or Bayou Teche Brewing, so they’re going to go throughout all of Acadiana and really enjoy the food, the music, the culture that we’re known for,” said Berthelot.

For this weekend, organizers said one message is clear.

“Come out and celebrate 30 years with us. Bonafete te festivale,” said Courville.