BATON ROUGE, LA (FOX44) -- Riverboats have been absent from the mighty Mississippi since 2008. Local leaders say the come-back is huge for the Capitol City, and Louisiana as a whole.

That's because the tourists hop off, spend money around town, and spread the word about Baton Rouge when they leave.

“It brings us back into the top tier of river cities,” Paul Arrigo, Convention and Visitors Bureau, explained. “The fact that we're going to have a riverboat on a regular basis stopping here, I think it certainly makes Baton Rouge an even more attractive destination.

The riverboats will start pulling into Baton Rouge next spring.