Spotlight on: New Orleans

It’s safe to say New Orleans has officially bounced back after Hurricane Katrina if visitor numbers from last year are any indication. The city welcomed 8.3 million visitors in 2010, a 10.7 percent increase over the previous year and the first time the city saw more than 8 million visitors since the devastating hurricane flooded major parts of the city in 2005. Of those visitors, 22.3 percent traveled to New Orleans for a convention, trade show, meeting or business, and almost half of them extended their stay for about two days of leisure.

The tourism industry is key to the city’s economic health, employing 70,000 people and generating $5 billion annually. “Coming out of the strong economic downturn, and on top of the difficult perception challenges created by the BP oil spill, the city hosted multiple attendance record-breaking conventions, festivals, had strong leisure and transient results and ended the year as the No. 1 fastest-growing destination in the country for hotel performance,” says Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans CVB.

Faith-based groups are a major part of the recovery. They make an economic difference—contributing nearly $200 million between 2008 and 2012—and they bring an intangible value. “I can’t tell you what having groups like the Southern Baptist Convention and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America does for the city,” says Jeff Anding, CMP, director of convention marketing for the CVB. “Everyone is energized to have them in town. They’re such a positive influence. Most people are here to meet and network with their folks and enjoy the fellowship within their group, and it’s infectious, both spiritually…and economically, and from a community outreach point of view, which has become even more important since the storm.”

The 35,000-attendee ELCA Youth Gathering is returning to the city in 2012. In 2009, the convention took over the city with voluntourism projects ranging from cleaning parks to painting murals and hosting health fairs. With more than 38,000 hotel rooms in New Orleans and a convention center with 1.1 million square feet of exhibit space, it has the space to accommodate almost any size group.

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