With Hurricane Katrina long gone, the Big Easy finally might be on its way to being just another, normal leisure and business destination, at least in terms of arrivals. The city last year welcomed 8.3 million visitors who spent $5.3 billion, the highest spend in New Orleans' history, and the city is on track for an even better 2011, officials said.
"I can't wait to go one week without saying the 'K word,'" said Kim Priez, vice president of tourism, New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, referring to the devastating August 2005 storm. "We knew it would take awhile ... but now we're closer to a typical year."
The 2010 arrivals figure was a 10.7% jump compared with 2009, when the city welcomed 7.5 million people, and the record visitor spend represented a 23.6% year-over-year increase. Seventy-sevenpercent of visitors came for leisure, and nearly half of the 22% in town for business extended their stays by an average 2.1 days for leisure purposes.
"If we had had a stronger economy last year, who knows what those numbers would have been," said Priez, adding that recovery should continue in 2011.
"All of our festivals have been off the charts this year," she added. "We're ahead of pace compared to last year ... so there's a very good possibility of edging out 2010 with maybe a 1% to 2% increase."
Occupancy is 67.7% in the first quarter of 2011, up 4.4% over Q1 2010, and the average hotel rate is $129.58, a 5.7% jump, according to Smith Travel Research.
While the past five years have largely been about recovery and reopenings, as of this May all major restaurants, attractions and hotels are back online, save a shuttered Six Flags theme park in the Ninth Ward and the Hyatt Regency hotel, due to reopen in the central business district this autumn.
"Everything that was on the drawing board before Katrina, or was undergoing repairs afterwards, is back," said Priez, who added the return of the Hyatt is significant.
"It will be the first time New Orleans will have a hotel with a ballroom large enough to accommodate a small convention outside the convention center," she said.
On the travel trade partner front, Tauck World Discovery returned to the city earlier this year with itineraries such as Bayous & the Big Easy and the Tauck Jazz Event.
"It sent a message to the rest of the big, upscale operators that Tauck believes in us," said Priez, noting Tauck is adding more departure dates this year to meet demand.
The visitors bureau also has decided to begin awarding graduates of its new online travel agent specialist program at NewOrleans4Agents.com copies of a soon-to-be-published New Orleans cookbook.
"Over 22% of all our hotel bookings are made through agents," Priez said.