BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, Louisiana's chief tourism ambassador, has an idea for where his state's residents should vacation: close to home.

As part of Tuesday's "National Plan for Vacation Day," Nungesser urged Louisianans to book trips around the state. The Republican lieutenant governor says they should see a part of the state they haven't seen. He encouraged them to visit LouisianaTravel.com.

Nungesser says Louisiana residents earned an estimated 34.7 million vacation days in 2017 but didn't use 8.9 million of those days - 25 percent of them. The lieutenant governor's office says National Plan for Vacation Day is a country-wide effort to encourage people to schedule their vacation time.