New Orleans is a city that is always ready to welcome the world. Ready to host events of every size and scale, events that bring people together in unique ways, events that range from the world’s largest to those that are truly intimate. New Orleans is ready to surprise you in ways both big and small.
Every visitor fuels our economy. Every convention supports our restaurants, attractions, musicians, and culture bearers. Every cruise, train, and flight arrival strengthens our community. And every New Orleans & Company partner is essential to this story. bearers. Every
Dear Friends of New Orleans & Company
New Orleans has always been more than a destination. It is a global cultural capital — a place where music, cuisine, creativity, and history converge to inspire the world.
Thank you for taking a few moments to review our 2025 Annual Report, a year defined by remarkable achievements, significant challenges, and the enduring resilience of our community.
Together with our partners, New Orleans & Company helped achieve several defining milestones for our city. With our partners at the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, we successfully hosted Super Bowl LIX — the 11th Super Bowl in New Orleans’ history — once again demonstrating our city’s unmatched ability to stage the world’s most iconic events.
In 2025, New Orleans welcomed MICHELIN recognition into our already legendary culinary scene, earned designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Music, and helped launch the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service Line, reconnecting Gulf Coast Communities from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama, and cities in between by passenger rail for the first time in more than two decades.
We also introduced the Greater New Orleans Vision 2035 Plan, a comprehensive 10-year roadmap designed to strengthen our region as a place where people can live, learn, work, and visit in harmony.
But none of us will ever forget January 1, 2025, when a heartbreaking act of violence forever changed the lives of so many families. We continue to remember those we lost, honor the strength of the survivors, and express our deepest gratitude to the first responders whose courage saved countless lives.
Letter from Our President & CEO
Even in the face of tragedy, our city demonstrated what has always defined New Orleans — resilience, compassion and unity. The truth remains clear: No act of terror can dim the unique light that New Orleans shines upon the world.
The year also presented broader challenges for the travel industry. A historic snowstorm, global economic uncertainty, canceled meetings, and reduced international visitation created significant headwinds. At the same time, destinations across the country invested billions in infrastructure and marketing to compete in the visitor economy.
Yet through every challenge, the New Orleans & Company team delivered results that strengthened our economy and supported our community.
In 2025:
• Our Convention Sales team secured more than 1.7 million hotel room nights into the future, while our Tourism Sales team generated more than 545,000 additional room nights, resulting in at least $400 million in direct sales revenue for our region. Every visitor supports jobs across the community, in hotels, restaurants, attractions, music venues, cultural institutions, museums, tour companies, and a variety of small businesses.
• Our Convention Services team issued 372 business leads, supported 125 site visits, assisted 437 clients with marketing and PR, staffed 58 conventions, and produced 61 sales events, ensuring New Orleans continues to deliver worldclass experiences for meeting planners and attendees.
• Our Public Relations team worked with more than 1,200 journalists and influencers, including nearly 500 curated media itineraries, generating global media coverage that
“Because when New Orleans thrives, our culture reaches the world — and when the world comes to New Orleans, our people benefit.
“
kept New Orleans top of mind for travelers. Major national outlets included Today, Good Morning America, and CBS News Sunday Morning highlighted the city during key moments throughout the year.
• Our marketing team generated 478 million impressions from campaigns, just over 4 million social media engagements and more than 11.1 million visits to NewOrleans.com, reflecting strong global demand and visibility for our destination.
• Our Membership and External Affairs team continued strengthening the hospitality community through advocacy, education, and business development opportunities that help make New Orleans a more inclusive, accessible, and welcoming destination, not just for visitors but for residents as well.
• And in just nine months, Event Development and Production Executive Sam Joffray confirmed several new events for 2026, including the Maestri Classic, Rockin’1000, and Fit Fête, which will bring new energy and economic opportunity to our city. These achievements are not the product of chance. Momentum is built — not found. It is not established through luck; it is discipline accelerated!
It is the result of consistent effort, collaboration, expertise, and a deep commitment to this city and its people. Every member of the New Orleans & Company team contributes to that momentum each day.
As we move through 2026, our mission remains clear: to inspire travel, strengthen our visitor economy, and ensure tourism continues to serve as a powerful force for opportunity, prosperity, and cultural exchange.
Because when New Orleans thrives, our culture reaches the world — and when the world comes to New Orleans, our people benefit.
Thank you for your partnership and your belief in this extraordinary city.
Sincerely,
Walter J. Leger III President & CEO New Orleans & Company
Contents
Convention Sales & Services
Convention Sales strategies focused on driving short-term bookings while building the booking pace for future years. Our sales and marketing strategies continually adapted to the changing market conditions to ensure maximum room night production.
Goals & Metrics
At year-end, definite room nights net of cancellations reached 111% of the full-year goal of 1,560,000 room nights. Convention Sales strategies prioritized driving short-term bookings while reinforcing the future booking pace. Sales and marketing efforts were strategically aligned to fill critical need periods and shape a robust convention calendar for sustained long-term growth.
New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center & Hotel Bookings
The graph illustrates a percentage breakdown of room nights from convention center bookings and those from in-hotel bookings. In-hotel meetings played a crucial role in the success of the market by creating compression and contributing to the growth of booking pace for future years.
Convention Sales Business Reach
Meetings and conventions created economic opportunities that extend beyond individual travelers, benefiting small business owners across the city.
2025 in Review: Citywide Conventions
Definite & Tentative Room Nights on the Books, 2025-2035
Source: New Orleans & Company Convention Sales Dashboard, December 2025
Smith Travel Research Downtown New Orleans Performance 2025
Smith Travel Research reported a decrease in year-end RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) of 3.2% compared to 2024. Occupancy was down 4.3%, while ADR (Average Daily Rate) increased by 1.1% year over year.
Convention Sales on the Road Booking Meetings
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Galway, Ireland
• Lausanne, Switzerland
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Toronto, Canada
The Built to Host Brand Supports Sales and Marketing Efforts
Convention Services & Group Marketing
The Convention Services team offered unmatched expertise, guiding clients
every stage of planning and execution to ensure seamless, successful events, while Group Marketing provided support to drive attendance, including custom microsites, destination photos, and media alerts.
The Built to Host Brand Execution
Since its inception in 2019, Built to Host has evolved from a strategic initiative into a fully integrated brand, and by 2025, it became nationally recognized as the expression of New Orleans’ unmatched hospitality and ability to deliver extraordinary meetings and events. It is actively used by our Sales, Services, Marketing, and Attendance Building teams and the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and is embraced by our customers, hospitality partners, and the local community.
Built to Host is rooted in our people. Our people create the food, music, art, and architecture that form the cultural foundation of Built to Host and bring precision, care, and expertise to any event. Their talent and hospitality power thousands of technically excellent meetings and conventions and meaningful experiences and ensure every gathering in New Orleans is delivered with authenticity and excellence.
The Built to Host “Fairytale” video was introduced to an audience of 2,000 meeting planners during the PCMA Convening Leaders 2025 Mainstage Production
Streetcar activation at PCMA Convening Leaders
High traffic at the Poydras Street wall ad placement during Super Bowl LIX
IMEX 2025 booth activation
Built to Host creative examples
Building Trade Media Relationships
New Orleans & Company’s Convention Marketing continued to strengthen relationships with top trade media to keep New Orleans and the Built to Host brand at the forefront of industry conversations. As the brand has matured, our focus has shifted from awareness to narrative leadership, reinforcing Built to Host as a credible and widely recognized expression of the city’s hosting capabilities.
Through strategic storytelling, we reinforced New Orleans’ position as a premier meetings destination, highlighting its ability to host complex, values-driven meetings and events.
Targeted media outreach and editorial partnerships resulted in consistent coverage across leading industry publications, including:
• Associations Conventions & Facilities
• Black Meetings & Tourism
• Corporate & Incentive Travel
• Meetings Today
• Prevue Meetings + Incentives
• Trade Show Executive
• Smart Meetings
• USAE
Immersive Destination Experiences
New Orleans & Company expanded its immersive destination experience strategy to give meeting planners firsthand exposure to the city’s compact geographic footprint. These curated experiences reinforced New Orleans’ readiness to host complex, high-impact meetings and events.
These immersive destination experiences strengthened relationships with key decision-makers and generated strong pipeline results, contributing 54,536 definite room nights into the future.
Strategic Partner Airfare Reimbursement Program
To drive increased site inspections and destination consideration, the Convention Sales team launched its airfare incentive for several third-party planners working with many organizations.
Convention Sales Awards & Recognition
New Orleans & Company Convention Sales continued to earn industry recognition, reflecting the strength of the Built to Host brand and reinforcing New Orleans’ position as a trusted, top-tier destination for complex meetings and events:
• Northstar Stella Awards named New Orleans & Company as Best CVB/DMO in the Southeast.
• Smart Meetings Magazine honored New Orleans & Company as one of the Best Cosmopolitan CVB/DMOs in the Country in its 2025 Smart Stars Awards.
• Smart Meetings Magazine named New Orleans & Company a 2025 Platinum Choice Award winner, recognizing excellence in service and destination leadership.
• Prevue Magazine honored New Orleans & Company as a 2025 Prevue Visionary Award winner for innovation and leadership in the meetings and incentives industry.
• Meetings Today Best of Awards recognized New Orleans & Company by its meeting planner audience.
• Convention South Magazine awarded New Orleans & Company its Readers’ Choice Award.
• Meetings Today named Walt Leger III a 2025 Trendsetter for his leadership in destination crisis management.
• New Orleans City Business named Stephanie Turner, SVP of Convention Sales & Strategies, one of the Women Who Lead – New Orleans for 2025.
• Smart Meetings Magazine recognized Stephanie Turner as a Visionary in its 2025 Women in Meetings Awards.
• New Orleans City Business included New Orleans & Company’s leadership among the Power 50: Most Influential People – 2025.
• Corporate & Incentive Travel honored New Orleans & Company with the 41st Annual Award of Excellence in the Conventions & Visitors Bureaus category.
• The Association of Conventions & Facilities awarded New Orleans & Company the 18th Annual Distinctive Achievement Award in the Convention & Visitors Bureaus category.
Tourism
The Tourism Sales and Marketing team promoted New Orleans as a leisure destination to domestic and international travel operators, agents, group tour companies, online travel agencies (OTAs), and social groups.
Domestic group and package tour visitors are crucial, but attracting international visitors is equally important due to their longer stays, higher spending, and positive recommendations. The team used a variety of strategies, including tradeshows, sales missions, training, sales calls, familiarization tours, and in-market promotions to ensure balanced growth and success.
Goals & Metrics
The Tourism team exceeded its definite room night goal, achieving 545,314, surpassing the goal of 541,000. The team also focused on identifying and developing both group and FIT (Free Independent Traveler) leads, generating a total of 1,491 tentative leads. These leads were distributed to our member hotels, restaurants, attractions, retail establishments, and other stakeholders, helping fill gaps in their visitor and group calendars over an 18–to-24-month period.
Additionally, the team participated in paid advertising campaigns that directly contributed to room night production. These campaigns were executed in collaboration with third-party companies such as Amadeus, Hotelbeds and Bonotel, Price Travel and Helloworld, as well as major online travel agencies with consumer booking platforms, including Expedia, Costco Travel, Hopper, Priceline, and Booking.com.
Tourism Goals & Accomplishments
541,000
545,314
The Tourism team organized 16 group familiarization trips, hosting 136 clients from France, Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Italy, the UK, South Korea, and the United States.
Domestic Travel Accomplishments
Amtrak Mardi Gras Service
Amtrak launched the Mardi Gras Service, a twice-daily passenger rail line connecting New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, with stops in Bay Saint Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The service marked the return of passenger rail to the Gulf Coast for the first time in nearly two decades. New Orleans & Company has worked very closely with Amtrak and our regional partners to promote and market this new service.
Cruising from New Orleans
Both river and ocean cruises experienced strong demand, with high booking rates across all sailings. The greatest demand for Caribbean cruises centered on three-to-seven-day itineraries departing from the Port of New Orleans. Several cruise lines operate from this port, including Carnival Cruise Line (Valor & Liberty), Norwegian Cruise Line (Getaway & Escape), and Royal Caribbean International (Brilliance of the Seas). American Cruise Lines expanded its itineraries in 2025 to include a Gulf Coast Cruise, sailing along the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida coastlines. Viking River Cruises remained in high demand with its year-round Viking Mississippi River Cruise sailings from New Orleans. In 2025, the Port recorded over one million passenger movements.
Travel Advisors & Cruise
The Tourism team maintained an aggressive schedule of tradeshows and presentations to engage travel professionals. Additionally, the advisor/agent online training course and toolkit provided valuable resources, including the Cruise Coupon Program and the Travel Advisor VIP site visit guide, to encourage agents to promote and sell New Orleans as a destination. Over 500 travel professionals requested resources in 2025.
Key Initiatives:
• Registered 2,000 travel professionals for eligibility in the summer Travel Agent Educational Trips, which took place during June, July, and August
• Participated in four cruise and travel advisor-focused tradeshows to strengthen river and ocean cruise passenger levels
• Hosted travel advisor seminars and training sessions to enhance destination knowledge and sales strategies specifically with Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean Cruises
Tour Operators & Group Travels
Tour operators remained a vital market for New Orleans, creating detailed group itineraries that connect the city with other destinations or promote standalone visits. Many tourism partners rely on these scheduled group arrivals to sustain business.
Brand USA South Korean FAM Trip to the Sazerac House
Olivia Markase hosting Mexico client FAM
Rachel Funel with NO&CO members at CLIA Cruise 360
Amtrak inaugural Mardi Gras Service from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama
Rachel Funel at Louisiana Canadian Mission
Attended three tour operator tradeshows, engaging in one-on-one scheduled appointments to discuss future group bookings
• Led training sessions for sales teams at top-performing tour operators
Key Initiatives:
Registered 2,000 travel professionals for eligibility in the summer educational trips promotion
• Participated in four cruise and travel advisor-focused tradeshows to strengthen river and ocean cruise passenger levels
Hosted travel advisor seminars and training sessions to enhance destination knowledge and sales strategies
Social Groups: Reunion, Celebration, Student & Wedding Travel
Social group planners are often non-industry professionals and require additional support. Our team provided expert guidance and essential planning tools to assist in organizing their special events.
Key Initiatives:
• Attended six tradeshows focused on social group travel
• Provided a comprehensive toolkit to assist new group planners
• Engaged with couples at tradeshows and events, promoting our member services for wedding planning
• Promoted a redesigned wedding website and Wedding Guide, enhancing the user experience and visual appeal for future couples
International Sales Highlights
• Led sales and marketing efforts with international representation firms promoting New Orleans in Germany, France, the UK, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Australia. Managed budgets, approved projects, and provided strategic direction and resources to maximize visitor awareness.
Partnered with Brand USA on multichannel marketing campaigns in Canada, Germany, Australia, India, Mexico, and the UK.
• Leveraged a successful IPW (International Pow Wow) in Chicago to drive the continued growth of the international visitor market
Magan O'Hara attending IPW 2025 Chicago
Thu Tran at appointments during FITUR
Thu Tran attending World Travel Market
Olivia Markase attending Brand USA India Mission
Overall, the Tourism team participated in 35 tradeshows, sales missions, and activations across 13 international destinations and 19 domestic locations, covering more than 177,521 miles in round-trip travel. International missions included Canada, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, England, and India
Tradeshows & Sales Missions
Conducted client meetings during eight sales missions and participated in 18 tradeshows
• Joined the state of Louisiana on a sales mission to Italy, engaging with key travel buyers, industry leaders, and media representatives
• Attended Brand USA’s annual European Marketplace & Trade Week in London and India
• Met with key UK travel buyers and the British Airways team during London’s World Travel Market
Leisure Group Tourism Advertising, Marketing & Promotions
• Developed and implemented a strategic domestic and international advertising and promotion plan in key markets
• Partnered with British Airways on targeted advertising campaigns to promote the direct London–New Orleans flight
• Continued to grow our partnership with the Spirit of Louisiana sales, marketing, and public relations partners, which includes Lake Charles, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge tourism leaders
• Maintained participation in Travel South USA’s Global Partner Programming, gaining expanded sales and marketing support in Canada, Italy, Brazil, Australia, Japan, and the Netherlands
• Established a marketing partnership with MICHELIN to produce a MICHELIN Green Travel Guide for New Orleans in French, followed by its MICHELIN Guide for the American South
Executed a comprehensive marketing and promotion plan targeting travel trade buyers, OTAs, and major travel marketing platforms, including Expedia, Amadeus, Travel Weekly, Costco Travel, Price Travel Mexico, Helloworld, Hopper, and Priceline/Booking.com
21 Years of COOLinary New Orleans
The 21st annual COOLinary New Orleans restaurant promotion featured the introduction of cocktail establishments in celebration of the program turning 21. The program welcomed 147 participating restaurants, attracting significant interest with over 70,000 unique visitors to the COOLinary website. Patrons averaged five minutes, 34 seconds, browsing its restaurant options.
The Clients Have Voted
New Orleans & Company was nominated for Travel Weekly’s prestigious Travvy Awards, voted on by travel professionals. The city received the following honors:
• Best US City - Domestic (Silver)
• Best Culinary Destination – Domestic (Silver)
• Best Tourism Board – United States (Bronze)
Kim Priez, Alice Glenn, and Diana Hernandez attending launch of MICHELIN Green Travel Guide
Olivia Markase meeting clients during Mexico City sales calls
Membership & External Affairs
In 2025, the Membership and External Affairs teams worked in close alignment to strengthen the hospitality ecosystem by supporting local businesses, developing talent, and investing in the broader community. Together, these efforts focused on increasing member value and visibility, building a resilient workforce, advancing inclusivity and sustainability, and improving quality of life for those who live in, work in, and visit New Orleans.
Membership
The Membership team focused on continuing to deliver meaningful value and support for members while building on the momentum from the creation of the membership success coordinator position. Throughout the year, programming, partnerships, and outreach efforts were designed to help local businesses increase visibility, build connections, and access opportunities that supported long-term success. The team introduced enhanced offerings that increased value, streamlined processes, and strengthened engagement across the membership.
The year marked several notable successes, including the creation of a new membership level designed to deliver additional value, the launch of the Good Times Pass, the securing of New Orleans’ designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Music, and the passage of the enhanced Tourism Support Assessment. Together, these milestones strengthened New Orleans’ global profile and ensured continued investment in promoting the city as a premier destination for meetings, conferences, leisure travel, and major events.
Member engagement remained a central priority, with an emphasis on proactive outreach and increased in-person opportunities. In 2025, 201 new businesses joined as members, bringing the organization to a strong base of more than 1,200 members by year-end.
Engagement
Events
Throughout 2025, the Membership team emphasized quality programming, hosting more than 20 events designed to maximize networking opportunities and foster meaningful relationship-building among members. These events provided platforms for collaboration and connection, strengthening ties across the membership community.
Participation remained strong, particularly for the Coffee and Conversation series, Business After Hours networking events, and the Tourism University educational series. The team also celebrated National Travel and Tourism Week, honoring the hospitality industry and the individuals who support it. Events held during the week in May included Taxi and Rideshare Appreciation Day and Random Acts of Kindness Day, culminating in a luncheon attended by approximately 600 guests. The luncheon recognized the many champions whose work sustains and strengthens the hospitality community.
Communications
The team continued to share timely and valuable information with members through the biweekly Membership Newsletter and the Membership Minute email series. These communications played a critical role in keeping members informed about opportunities, initiatives, and upcoming events.
Digital engagement was further elevated through collaboration with the Social Media team, including the creation of a membersonly Close Friends group on Instagram and continued engagement through the New Orleans & Company Members Facebook group. Members were also encouraged to connect digitally with one another through the Membership Directory and Post Board, fostering ongoing communication and collaboration.
Collaboration & Partnerships
The Membership team again partnered closely with other New Orleans & Company departments to promote member participation in and visibility through a variety of programs. These included Amtrak Mardi Gras offers, Summer FAM, Museum Month, COOLinary New Orleans, and Holidays New Orleans Style.
Innovation remained a hallmark of these efforts. In 2025, we launched the first Museum Month Passport, which proved highly popular. During Holidays New Orleans Style, the team partnered with Yiftee to offer a flexible gift card redeemable at any participating business to guests who booked a two-night minimum hotel stay through the booking engine during December.
2025 National Travel and Tourism Week Transportation Appreciation Day
2025 National Travel and Tourism Week luncheon
Business After Hours at Jack Rose
Tourism University
Museum Month Passport
Local Partnerships
The team continued to engage local association partners to diversify the membership base while strengthening long-standing relationships and cultivating new ones.
Through a partnership with the Magazine Street Merchants Association, one-year complimentary memberships were offered to association members. In 2025, more than 20 businesses took advantage of this opportunity.
New partnerships were also established with the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Business and Merchant Association and the French Market District. These collaborations focused on educating tenants and members about New Orleans & Company and how they could become involved, including the offer of a one-year complimentary membership.
Expanding Member Visibility, Inclusivity, Sustainability & Accessibility
The Good Times Pass was launched in late 2025 as a multiexperience ticket platform designed to keep 90% of revenue in New Orleans. The pass allows visitors to access four attractions priced over $20 and two priced under $20, with dozens of experiences available.
The partnership with Threshold 360 continued, providing 25 attraction members with complimentary AI-powered 360-degree captures of their businesses. These assets were used on both individual business websites and New Orleans & Company’s digital platforms.
The organization produced both printed and digital Visitors Guides, as well as a Wedding Guide. These publications combined inspirational editorial content with member listings, increasing visibility for participating businesses.
Through the Everyone’s Welcome Here initiative, the team worked with partners to reinforce New Orleans’ commitment to being welcoming to all, with a particular focus on the LGBTQIA+ community. Businesses were encouraged to participate by taking a pledge, completing a short training video, and visibly demonstrating that New Orleans is open and inclusive.
For the fourth consecutive year, New Orleans & Company partnered with LifeCity and Love Your City. The 2025 campaign, “Connecting the Dots,” highlighted the interconnected nature of sustainability, encompassing environmental responsibility, equity, education, and related issues. As part of this effort, the team hosted a Tourism University session in April focused on practical sustainability strategies for businesses.
2025 New Orleans & Company Corporate Members: Aflac
The partnership with Wheel the World resulted in accessibility assessments of 60 member restaurants, hotels, and attractions. These efforts expanded options for travelers with disabilities and positioned New Orleans as the first city in Louisiana to receive Wheel the World destination verification.
Together, these programs and partnerships demonstrated a continued commitment to helping members reach broader audiences while reinforcing New Orleans’ identity as a welcoming, inclusive, sustainable, and accessible destination.
New Tools & Expanded Opportunities
Late in 2025, the team launched an autopay option that allowed members to automatically renew their annual memberships. Members could enroll and be billed each January, creating a more efficient and convenient payment process.
Additionally, two existing membership levels were consolidated into a new Premier level. This streamlined and more-equitable structure delivered greater value to members, expanded sourcing opportunities for clients, and simplified the overall membership model by reducing the number of tiers.
Across all initiatives, the Membership team, working in alignment with External Affairs, remained committed to advancing inclusivity, accessibility, and sustainability, ensuring that New Orleans continues to support its local businesses while welcoming residents and visitors from around the world.
While Membership efforts focused on strengthening and engaging local businesses, External Affairs advanced this work by investing in workforce development, community partnerships, and initiatives that support the people and systems sustaining New Orleans’ hospitality industry.
Photography Justen Williams
LSU Continuing Education Hospitality
External Affairs
In 2025, New Orleans & Company advanced its commitment to building a stronger hospitality industry and improving quality of life across the city through focused efforts in workforce development, community engagement, sustainability, and corporate responsibility. Together, these efforts reflect our mission to inspire, promote, and encourage travel for the economic, social, and community benefit of New Orleans and its people.
Workforce Development
The External Affairs team continued to invest in the growth and retention of the hospitality workforce through strategic partnerships and targeted programming. As part of our ongoing commitment to employee retention, we welcomed our second cohort of the Hospitality and Tourism Certification Program in partnership with LSU Online & Continuing Education. This five-week professional development course provided 20 rising-star employees who were nominated by their managers with training in essential areas, including emotional intelligence, conflict management, effective communication, exceptional guest service, and career navigation. The program is designed specifically for industry workers who show the potential for supervisory or management roles and need additional support to excel in their careers.
In addition to team leader development, we launched a frontline training initiative in collaboration with the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute (NOCHI), offering the Serving Up Hospitality program to 234 employees. This six-course training series focused on elevating service knowledge across a variety of skill sets such as professionalism, service recovery, communication, financial literacy, and the creation of memorable guest experiences. Feedback from participants was especially encouraging, with 100% seeing value in the training, 98.9% reporting an immediate impact on their work performance, and all indicating they would recommend the program to their coworkers. With positive feedback from both employees and employers, we will continue the training program in 2026.
NOCHI serving up hospitality
Hospitality Certification training
As we continued to support recruitment efforts, we hosted the 10th annual Job Fest, our most successful to date, with 50 employers and over 600 job seekers attending the event at the Joy Theater. Our job board remained critical year-round, now integrated into NewOrleans.com, allowing members to post open positions, expand visibility, and receive applications directly.
Recognizing that employee well-being is central to workforce development, we also hosted the third annual Hospitality Health Fair at The Fillmore in partnership with 504HealthNet, LCMC Health, Ochsner Health, and Verite News. More than 100 hospitality workers participated in this one-stop wellness event offering free health screenings, including dental, vision, cholesterol, blood pressure, and more.
Quality of Life
New Orleans & Company remains dedicated to initiatives that make the city a better place to live, work, and visit. One such initiative is our continued support of Home for Good, a collaborative housing effort aimed at reducing chronic homelessness. By the end of 2025, the program had reached its ambitious goal to house 1,537 individuals. Notable results included the decommissioning of 322 targeted encampments, coordinated housing navigation for 661 unsheltered individuals, and permanent housing placement for 554 people transitioning from shelters. In total, 1,537 individuals received direct assistance through this initiative, and we remain committed to supporting its continued progress under the new city administration.
Sustainability also remained a key focus in our quality-of-life efforts, reinforcing the organization’s broader commitment to responsible tourism reflected across Membership programming and partner initiatives. During the 2025 Carnival Season, we championed the third year of the Recycle Dat! initiative, a successful parade recycling program that diverted more than 73,800 pounds of waste from local landfills. Recovered materials included an estimated 100,000 aluminum cans (3,828 pounds), 23,490 plastic bottles (905 pounds), 22,803 pounds of Mardi Gras throws, and over 46,000 pounds of glass. These efforts supported both environmental stewardship and the reputation of New Orleans as a beautifully vibrant, yet responsible, destination.
Additionally, we supported the city of New Orleans in launching the Serving Hospitality Downtown Discount Parking Program. Through this initiative, more than 1,000 parking spaces are now available at reduced rates, either daily or monthly, for hospitality workers in key neighborhoods, including the French Quarter, CBD, Marigny, and Tremé. New Orleans & Company led outreach and promotion to our members to ensure this resource reached workers who need it most.
10th anniversary of Job Fest
Hospitality Health Fair
BEADS • BOTTLES • CANS
Industry Engagement
Complementing ongoing Membership engagement efforts, we expanded industry access to business opportunities through new partnerships and platforms. As part of our commitment to community partnership and inclusive growth, we introduced a collaboration with the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center to expand access to its Small and Emerging Businesses Connect App. This digital platform connects small and emerging businesses with RFP opportunities at both the Convention Center and the Port of New Orleans. This partnership allows New Orleans & Company members to post large-scale procurement opportunities on the app at no cost, increasing visibility and participation in major projects across the region.
We also hosted our annual NOLA Talks event at Nieux Society, featuring a dynamic panel on the role of artificial intelligence in hospitality and tourism. Panelists included Sabrina Short of NOLAvate, Robert LeBlanc of LeBLANC + SMITH, and Arthur Soroken of Google, who shared insights on how AI is shaping guest experiences and provided practical strategies for businesses in the industry to leverage AI-driven solutions.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Throughout the year, we also partnered with member businesses to support a variety of community engagement efforts. School supplies were donated to five charter schools, one in each council district. During the holiday season, we donated teddy bears to the New Orleans Police Department and the Police & Justice Foundation to bring comfort to children experiencing trauma and toys to the Boys & Girls Club.
During National Travel and Tourism Week, we surprised employees at 20 member businesses with tokens of appreciation for the hospitality they provide to our city’s visitors. We also worked with restaurant members to provide meals to NOPD officers in partnership with the Louisiana Restaurant Association and Councilmember Freddie King III's office to show gratitude to the men and women in blue. New Orleans & Company staff also actively participated in Keep Louisiana Beautiful’s Love the Boot Week by organizing a litter pickup to demonstrate our commitment to a cleaner, more welcoming city.
TALKS NOLA
TUESDAY, JULY 8
NOLA Talks AI and Tech
NOLA Talks AI and Tech invite
New Orleans & Company “Love the Boot” litter removal and beautification effort
Marketing & Communications
In 2025, Marketing invested $3 million in brand advertising and $1.9 million in seasonal tactical campaigns, for a total of $4.9 million, directly generating over 478 million impressions and more than 4 million social media engagements. We continued to focus on regional drive and key direct flight markets.
Marketing continued to position New Orleans as a premier leisure destination to millions of potential travelers in 2025, crafting compelling creative messaging for targeted audiences and deploying a strategic media mix throughout the year.
The department took a disciplined, data-driven approach to the work, scaling what worked, refining underperforming creative and media placements, and leveraging partnerships while closely aligning with organizational priorities like Built to Host, Vision 2035, and membership value.
We also added new curated photography and video content to our creative asset library, which will continue to deliver impact well beyond any single campaign or channel.
Ultimately, Marketing delivered measurable results, strengthened the New Orleans brand, supported partners and stakeholders, and kept the city competitive on a global stage.
Highlights:
• Leveraged Super Bowl LIX to develop a radio spot with NFL Hall of Famer and Louisiana native Terry Bradshaw, which ran throughout the state via WWL Radio in late Q1
• Sponsored the Tony-nominated Pirates! The Penzance Musical on Broadway, garnering exposure for New Orleans in the New York City market
• Showcased New Orleans as one of the most welcoming cities in the world via an on-the-ground activation and float at World Pride in Washington, D.C.
• Drove incremental summer visitation via an expanded COOLinary campaign that reached new markets and featured hotels, pools, attractions, in addition to COOLinary’s popular prix-fixe menus
Audience reach and performance at-a-glance:
• Website: Marketing exceeded its annual web sessions goal with 11.1 million sessions vs. a 10.3 million target. As expected amid ongoing shifts in search behavior, several year-over-year engagement metrics trended down (sessions −1.8%, users −4%, page views −14.8%). These trends reflect industry-wide headwinds (e.g., zero-click search) that we actively managed through search, content, and media optimizations.
• Content: The editorial team produced over 700 stories and blog posts, including numerous campaign and special events landing pages, and continued to optimize the site for traditional search platforms as well as LLMbased searches.
• Social media (leisure + corporate): Marketing built and nurtured relationships with local social media influencers, doubling down on collaborative posts, which broadened
our reach and provided different perspectives and viewpoints on New Orleans as an ideal travel destination for unique and diverse audiences around the world:
à 3,188 posts
à 4.01 million engagements
à 31.6 million reach/impressions
à community ≈1.26 million followers
• Email and SMS: Marketing sent more than 5.4 million emails to an actively engaged audience who clicked through to advertisers and content on NewOrleans.com over 224,000 times. Marketing’s email program continued to outperform industry benchmarks, with approximately 180,000 subscribers generating an average click-through rate (CTR) of just over 9%, 251% higher than the industry average.*
Marketing launched SMS in July, growing the list to 1,100 subscribers by the end of the year and driving a 25.1% average CTR.
Q1 Momentum
• Built and executed campaigns across paid search, paid social, influencer collaborations, and regional radio to support local events and drive travel intent. Capitalized on the Super Bowl, the January snowstorm, Mardi Gras, and other timely moments to spike engagement — exceeding goals for both social engagements and website sessions.
New Orleans & Company sponsored the Tony-nominated Broadway Revival, Pirates! The Penzance Musical 2025 fall campaign photography
• Supported key partners, including New Orleans Ballet Association, New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, New Orleans Book Festival, and the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival via paid social, search, and content marketing.
• Launched a shareable external editorial calendar to align hotels (and eventually broader hospitality partners) with our quarterly content themes and in-house website/email plans.
Q2 Brand & Consideration Push
• Deployed a $3 million brand campaign (April 15–June 30) across 41 markets, optimized to drive overnight stays among luxury travelers and culture seekers. The media mix spanned premium partnerships, high-impact formats, connected TV/online video, digital display, programmatic audio, contextual targeting, automated content recognition, and placement in the Garden & Gun Summer Travel Guide
• Email maintained strong performance in the second quarter (7.9% CTR), and editorial published 179 pieces of content, including two targeted landing page sets (luxury and regional/drive). Using Clarity and Google Analytics, the team made real-time adjustments that improved performance and informed future campaign pages and broader site enhancements.
2025 summer campaign photography
Q3 Innovation & Late Summer Conversion
• Launched SMS marketing in July, inviting our newsletter subscribers to sign up, and building a strategy for future list growth through paid and organic social media, site pop-ups, and sweepstakes. Early results, including a 31.8% CTR, were significantly higher than travel industry benchmarks.
• Expanded COOLinary into an integrated late-summer visitation driver by doubling media spend, targeting approximately three million potential travelers across five segments (luxury, experiential, post-college/ budget, foodies, locals) and widening geographic reach to roughly 150 miles, including Jackson, Mississippi. Creative included 70 digital display units, digital billboards/OOH, paid social videos, paid search, print, and local TV.
• Executed a paid social campaign with travel ad network Sojern to drive August–September visitation among national travel intenders.
• Targeted Mobile, Alabama, and Mississippi Gulf Coast along Amtrak's Mardi Gras service to stimulate hotel bookings on NewOrleans.com.
• Continued paid search and supported additional cultural campaigns and special events (e.g., Tales of the Cocktail sweepstakes, New Orleans Wine & Food Experience, NOLA Pickle Fest), captured optimization learnings to improve efficiency (e.g., Mobile, Alabama, performed 2.5 times more efficiently than other markets, consideration peaks on Wednesday–Thursday, and the 9–10 a.m. and 4–5 p.m. dayparts convert most efficiently by site visits per impression).
Q4 Demand Generation & Partner Co-ops
• Activated fall and holiday demand through a music and luxury-themed regional drive market campaign, expanded our Sojern partnership, leveraging paid social with competitive conquesting against peer destinations (e.g., travelers searching Nashville, Charleston, Austin, and Savannah), and affinity/keyword contextual targeting aligned to New Orleans’ culinary, cultural, history, and arts strengths.
• Built a hotel co-op with Sojern, offering a 3:1 media match; eight hotels joined the program, which launched in September. By year-end, we booked nearly 6,400 hotel room nights and generated over $2.1 million in economic impact through online bookings and over $14 million based on foot traffic.
• Sustained always-on paid search with seasonal layers (e.g., spring, summer, Halloween) and Amtrak Mardi Gras Service support, ran additional social media programs (newsletter enrollment, French Quarter Fest sweepstakes), and launched the New Orleans merchandise store at shop.neworleans.com.
• Email and SMS performance held strong in Q4, with 9.3% and 31.6% CTRs respectively. Editorial published 168 stories in the same quarter, with a focus on landing pages and timely event content and continued search and LLM optimization.
Optimization, Data & Technology
• Deployed sophisticated targeting and premium channels (connected TV, online video, contextual targeting, automated content recognition) to refine reach and improve consideration
• Captured granular insight to optimize in-flight: dayparting, weekday weighting (Wednesday–Thursday), and market-level efficiency (e.g., Mobile, Alabama) to improve site engagement per impression and inform future bid inventory strategies
• Responded to search volatility and the rise of zero-click behavior (nearly 60% of Google searches now end with no site click) by expanding paid search, refocusing social KPIs, and investing in editorial/LLM-aligned content and new page architectures
• Introduced SMS as a high-intent, high-CTR performance channel and continued to enhance email performance well above industry norms
Strategic Alignment
Marketing served as a force multiplier across departments: strengthening Built to Host through proof-driven storytelling; connecting Vision 2035’s quality-of-life, workforce, and community pillars to the visitor experience; and showcasing member value alongside tourism’s economic impact. The team built a scalable asset library to extend value beyond individual campaigns and channels, positioning the organization for continued growth.
Setting the Stage & Planning
Our 2024 brand work and full NewOrleans.com redesign laid the groundwork for 2025 execution. We also published the 2025 Marketing Plan in partnership with other departments, ensuring clear goals, shared metrics, and an integrated calendar heading into the year.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Marketing will continue to evolve the leisure brand with new positioning launching in Q2 2026 and optimized seasonal campaigns with promotional incentives aimed directly at winning back the regional drive market. We’ll build on 2025 learnings by scaling high-performing channels, deepening regional and luxury strategies, expanding partner co-ops, and continuing to optimize for a zero-click search environment. We will also extend the partner-facing editorial calendar across more hospitality segments to align storytelling. Ultimately, we’ll inspire visitation and generate demand through a new unifying idea for the city that captures the essence of the New Orleans visitor experience and establishes a solid foundation for leisure marketing years into the future.
2025 Holidays New Orleans Style campaign
Communications & PR
The Communications & PR team had another successful year in 2025, communicating major milestones to inspire visitation, strengthen the city’s reputation, and elevate our culture globally. The team exceeded its annual goal, assisting 1,638 journalists and influencers and placing 2,384 positive stories in local, regional, national, and international news outlets.
We strategically prepared itineraries and hosted hundreds of journalists, including Today, CBS News Sunday Morning, Samantha Brown Places to Love, and Good Morning America, all of which were “love letters” to New Orleans. We conducted seven satellite media tours with 211 interviews in 185 cities, reaching 69 million viewers to inspire visitation.
Internationally, we significantly increased our news coverage in Australia and India by partnering with PR agencies in those countries. We represented New Orleans with international media at the IPW Media Marketplace, Travel South, National Geographic Traveller Food Festival, Brand USA Europe, World Travel Market, and the London Press Club. The Telegraph (UK) named us the second-best place to visit in the world, including this powerful quote: “Everywhere should be like New Orleans but nowhere is. That’s its point.”
Crisis Communications
Starting in the early morning hours of January 1, 2025, Walt Leger and Kelly Schulz led crisis communications for 20 consecutive days following the horrific terrorist attack and then transitioned immediately into crisis comms for the historic snowstorm that coincided with the arrival of 22,000 convention attendees.
Our goal during any crisis is to mitigate damage to the city’s reputation and preserve business for our members and partners while operating from a place of humanity, honesty, and hope. Our team continues to be invited to speak at national conferences about crisis management best practices.
In December 2025, we helped launch Second Line in the Sky, a memorial to the January 1 terror attack victims, in partnership with Katie Casbarian of Arnaud’s Restaurant. On January 1, 2026, Walt Leger was the voice of the tourism industry during anniversary media interviews and powerful bylined articles. His message:
“One year ago, our city experienced a heartbreaking act of violence that forever changed lives and families. Today, we pause to remember those we lost, to honor the strength of the survivors, and to thank the first responders, whose actions saved countless lives.
“This past year, we affirmed that no act of terror can dim the unique light that New Orleans shines upon the world. On this solemn anniversary, we remain committed to unity, respect, and the enduring humanity that allows our city to be a place where people come together, convene, celebrate, and experience joy in a truly special way.”
Super Bowl LIX
The Communications & PR team generated hundreds of positive media stories about Super Bowl LIX by helping host the 6,000 credentialed members of the media in town and on Radio Row, coordinating a media event for the “Never Miss a Super Bowl” club, and much more. Nielsen reported nearly 128 million people watched Super Bowl LIX across TV and streaming platforms — the highest number of viewers in over a decade and an impressive four million viewers more than the next-highest-viewed game.
Driving Summer Business
We extended our promotion of COOLinary New Orleans with a satellite media tour featuring Chef Kevin Belton and Kelly Schulz live from the pool deck of the Windsor Court Hotel. We invited consumers not only to dine at our restaurants during COOLinary but also to come enjoy hotel pools, Museum Month, UFC 318, Satchmo SummerFest, the USA Gymnastics Championships, NOLA Pickle Fest, Southern Decadence, and more. They did approximately 25 live TV interviews, reaching 8.7 million viewers in 16 cities. Press releases highlighting summer business and seasonal restaurant and museum deals, and a Walt Leger bylined article in Biz New Orleans, were well received
Bourbon Street memorial honoring the victims of the January 1 attack and reflecting the strength and resilience of the New Orleans community
Earned Media
Samples of positive media coverage highlighting New Orleans globally
NBC 3rd Hour of Today, Mardi Gras 2025 Broadcast
CBS News Sunday Morning correspondent Jane Pauley visits the French Quarter, highlighting New Orleans’ culture, history, and visitor experience.
New Orleans & Company hosted international media and influencers at Krewe of BOO!, New Orleans’ official Halloween parade and a nationally recognized seasonal attraction.
Good Morning America feature highlights New Orleans’ “Skelton House” for a national audience
New Orleans & Company CEO Walt Leger III at the K20 satellite media tour
UFC 318
UFC 318 at the Smoothie King Center sold out with 18,138 fans and a $8.09 million gate, the highest-grossing event in the venue’s history. The Communication & PR team worked closely with the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and UFC staff to deliver exceptional customer service for the media, knowing many of these journalists cover Super Bowls, WrestleMania, and other major sporting events. We planned and hosted a media welcome party at the Old Absinthe House. The UFC PR director told us that they have never felt more welcomed in any other host city.
Amtrak Mardi Gras Service
The August 18 official launch of the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service marked the first passenger rail connection between New Orleans and Mobile in 20 years. Ahead of the launch, dignitaries and media gathered on August 16 at the Union Passenger Terminal for an inaugural ride and ceremony featuring remarks from Walt Leger III, U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, and Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser. The PR team secured extensive media coverage, including stories on NOLA.com and in The Advocate and in broadcast segments on WWL, WVUE, WDSU, and WGNO. The event drew strong regional and national coverage, highlighting the economic and tourism benefits of renewed Gulf Coast connectivity. According to Amtrak, ticket sales have exceeded expectations.
20th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
In commemoration of Hurricane Katrina’s 20th anniversary, President & CEO Walt Leger III conducted a satellite media tour live from the Caesars Superdome with 25 interviews that reached 20 cities and more than 13.2 million viewers, reinforcing messages of progress and unity. We issued a comprehensive press release about the power of the tourism industry two decades later. The communications team also distributed talking points and key messages to members, partners, and elected officials to ensure a consistent voice across the community. On August 28, CBS News Sunday Morning re-aired its beautiful New Orleans episode (which originally aired in May) to honor the city’s spirit.
UNESCO Creative City of Music
In late October, New Orleans was designated a Creative City for Music by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. The designation gives the city’s musicians and music economy prestigious global recognition and opportunities to connect and collaborate with other international Creative Cities. New Orleans is one of only 10 American cities in the Creative Cities Network.
MICHELIN Recognition
New Orleans received widespread recognition during the inaugural MICHELIN Guide to the American South Ceremony in November. Emeril’s debuted in the guide with an unprecedented two stars, and Chef E.J. Lagasse became the youngest chef ever to earn a two-star distinction. Many other local restaurants received recognition:
The Times UK, August 29, 2025
President & CEO of New Orleans & Company Walt Leger III is joined by the founder of Rockin’1000, Fabio Zaffagnini, for international media interviews promoting Rockin’1000 and positioning New Orleans as a global events destination
recognition highlighting New Orleans’ cultural significance
Zasu and Saint Germain each received one MICHELIN star.
• Chef E.J. Lagasse received the MICHELIN Young Chef/Culinary Professional Award.
• Eleven restaurants received the Bib Gourmand distinction, which recognizes eateries for offering great food at a great value.
• Eighteen New Orleans restaurants were recommended by MICHELIN.
Both MICHELIN and UNESCO are examples of elevating our cultural assets and generating positive press about New Orleans on a global stage.
Vision 2035 Launch
At our annual meeting in December 2025, New Orleans & Company, in partnership with Greater New Orleans Foundation, Greater New Orleans Inc., Jefferson Economic Development Commission, New Orleans Chamber, and Urban League of Louisiana, announced the release of the Greater New Orleans Region Vision Plan 2035, a comprehensive 10-year longterm roadmap, focused on making the region a more harmonious place to live, learn, work, and visit. To learn more, visit www.neworleans.com/ vision2035.
Working with Alice Glenn and Trepwise, our Marketing & Communications team planned the launch and provided a toolkit for all partners to share the news with their stakeholders. The toolkit included talking points, a logo, a CEO communication, a press release, and sample social media posts.
Demonstrating Impact
We also issued a variety of CEO strategic comms, bylined articles and op-eds and published four issues of Tourism Matters to convey New Orleans & Company’s collective results and impact in 2025.
We maintained a regular presence in the local news media, providing data, interviews, and perspective on topics affecting the cultural economy. Prior to the legislative session, President & CEO Walt Leger III conducted a statewide media tour to explain how a thriving New Orleans tourism industry benefits the entire state of Louisiana.
March, June, September, and December 2025 Tourism Matters covers
Finance
Revenue & Expenditure Recap
2025 & Beyond - Revenues
Revenue projections for 2025 totaled $40,947,854 and included both private and public sectors and were relatively flat compared to 2024 receipts. The private sector revenue is collected through member dues, the Tourism Support Assessment, Ceasars marketing funding, earned interest, and other ancillary receipts. Public sector revenue is collected from the state of Louisiana for a portion of the hotel tax collections and the city of New Orleans for a portion of the short-term rental tax collections. All revenue collections remained strong due to our ongoing sales, marketing, and public relations efforts to drive visitors to our region.
2025 Projected Revenues
Expenditures
Expenditure projections for 2025 totaled $45,356,908 and included multiple marketing campaigns throughout the year designed to drive attendance at cultural attractions and tours, enhance restaurant visitation, drive short-term bookings at hotels, and highlight cultural products through initiatives such as Music Month, NOLAxNOLA, COOLinary, brand campaigns, summer and fall visitation, Museum Month along with many others. This investment in marketing and advertising resulted in extremely impactful performance across social media, paid campaigns, search, and content while strengthening the long-term health of the New Orleans brand.
Additional expenditures in 2025 included major and minor festivals, national cultural shows, Holidays New Orleans Style, Super Bowl LIX, UFC 318, Bayou Classic, Allstate Sugar Bowl, ESSENCE Festival of Culture, and New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, along with many other strategic opportunities. Other community initiatives included organizing Job Fests to help local businesses with staffing, a health fair for the hospitality industry workforce, ongoing sustainability efforts, initiatives to combat homelessness, and many other outreach programs.
PR and Communications was another major component of our ongoing positive sales efforts by influencing articles and stories to be published, communicating major milestones to inspire visitation, strengthening the city’s reputation, and elevating our culture globally.
Convention Sales & Services’ efforts delivered strong results, securing commitments from major meetings and conventions and positioning our city for sustained growth. These teams are executing sales initiatives daily and delivering a strong brand message to the world that we are Built to Host
Leisure Sales ended the year strong and focused on shortterm bookings, collaborating with social planners, tour series, travel professionals, and online travel agents. In addition, international marketing and advertising continued and included representation in the UK, France, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and India. Lastly, we continued our partnership with British Airways to promote the nonstop flight between London and New Orleans and also continued partnerships with the MICHELIN Guide.
New Orleans & Company’s teams traveled worldwide in pursuit of booking business and bringing people to our city by attending industry shows, tradeshows, missions,
conferences, familiarization and site visits, press trips, and media events; meeting with journalists, influencers, and reporters; conducting satellite media tours; always networking; and pursuing opportunities to bring people to our unique and remarkable city.
In an effort to provide enhanced public safety and a better visitor experience, we continued funding to the French Quarter Management District for operational costs and P.O.S.T-certified officer patrols in the French Quarter area. We funded additional security in and around the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center to further enhance safety for convention attendees and staff. 2025
Projected Expenditures
2026 & Beyond
Expenditures projected for calendar-year 2026 include costsaving investments in building management, sales, promotion, travel, marketing, advertising, public relations, external affairs, and partnerships. We strive to accelerate visitation and continue to exceed expectations. We continue our ongoing efforts with added events to boost visitation by hosting remarkable events such as Bocuse d’Or, Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals, Sail 250, Rockin’1000, and Fit Fête, along with many others.
Funding is also included in the budget for ongoing efforts to continue festivals and national cultural shows and to keep our local businesses thriving.
The recurring budget also has a capital expenditure of $3.7 million to repair the severely deteriorated uptown west wall of the New Orleans & Company building, which will be completed in 2026.
We remain committed to long-term sustainability and strategic growth. The development of our Vision 2035 plan, created in collaboration with local partners, is now complete. This comprehensive roadmap establishes a forward-looking framework to enhance our city as a premier destination. Plans are underway to implement these strategies that integrate both our internal priorities and those of the broader industry. The idea behind the plan is straightforward: When New Orleans is a better place to live, work, and learn, it becomes an even better place to visit.
Note: Some figures contained within this report are projections and unaudited.
Awards & Honors
City Awards
• Rolling Stone magazine named New Orleans as One of the Best Music Cities in the United States.
Time Out magazine named New Orleans as the world’s best city for food in 2025. New Orleans not only topped the list but was the only U.S. city to make the list.
• Ana Castro’s new restaurant Acamaya in Bywater was selected by Condé Nast Traveler as one the world’s top new restaurants for 2025.
• Neal Bodenheimer’s Cure has secured the 50th spot on North America’s 50 Best Bars list. This marks Cure’s third consecutive year earning a place on this celebrated list a testament to its continued excellence, impact, and staying power, as the bar just celebrated its 16th anniversary in February. Cure also recently was named the Best Bar in the U.S. by Food & Wine Magazine as part of its 2025 Global Tastemakers awards.
• MovieMaker Magazine chose New Orleans for its 2025 list of Best Cities to Live and Work as a moviemaker. New Orleans came in number 6 on the list, beaten only by Calgary, Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, and Albuquerque.
• Time Out magazine named New Orleans as one of the Best Cities in the World for 2025. New Orleans Came in Number 6, ranked only behind London, Melbourne, New York, Bangkok, and Cape Town.
• Forbes magazine named New Orleans one of its top 12 destinations for 2025, citing Super Bowl LIX, the opening of Caesars Hotel, new restaurants, and hotel renovations as reasons to visit. Southern Living magazine chose New Orleans as one of the 25 Places to Go in the South in 2025.
• Condé Nast Traveler named New Orleans as one of the Best Places to Go in the US in 2025 and referenced newly decorated chefs, new hotel properties, and Super Bowl LIX in their recommendation.
The New York Times annual list of 52 Places to Go in 2025 features New Orleans.
New Orleans & Company Awards
• Northstar Stella Awards named New Orleans & Company Best CVB/DMO in the Southeast.
Smart Meetings Magazine honored New Orleans & Company as one of the Best Cosmopolitan CVB/DMOs in the Country in its 2025 Smart Stars Awards.
• Smart Meetings Magazine named New Orleans & Company a 2025 Platinum Choice Award winner, recognizing excellence in service and destination leadership.
• Travel Weekly Magellan Awards recognized New Orleans & Company for excellence in destination marketing, advertising, and communications and as a culinary destination.
• Prevue Magazine honored New Orleans & Company as a 2025 Prevue Visionary Award winner for innovation and leadership in the meetings and incentives industry.
• Meetings Today Best of Awards recognized New Orleans & Company by its meeting planner audience.
• Convention South Magazine awarded New Orleans & Company its Readers’ Choice Award.
New Orleans City Business honored President & CEO Walt Leger III as a 2025 Icon Award Honoree.
• Newsweek recognized Leger, among New Destinations: Global Travel and Tourism Leaders – 2025.
• Meetings Today named Leger a 2025 Trendsetter for his leadership in destination crisis management.
• Biz New Orleans recognized Leger in its Biz 500: Influential Leaders list.
• New Orleans City Business named Stephanie Turner, SVP of Convention Sales & Strategies, one of the Women Who Lead –New Orleans for 2025.
• Smart Meetings Magazine recognized Stephanie Turner as a Visionary in its 2025 Women in Meetings Awards.
• New Orleans City Business included New Orleans & Company leadership among the Power 50: Most Influential People – 2025.
