Last updated: 7:00 PM ET, Mon June 16, 2025
WHY IT RATES: In 2024, New Orleans welcomed more than 19 million visitors, marking significant tourism growth since the pandemic, with visitors spending $10.4 billion. Various events contributed to this milestone, enhancing the local economy and showcasing the city as a top travel destination. —Janeen Christoff, TravelPulse Managing Editor
Signaling a major milestone in our city’s economic recovery, New Orleans & Company is announcing that in 2024, visitation to the city exceeded the 19 million mark, crossing this important threshold for the first time since the COVID19 pandemic and for only the second time ever.
New Orleans & Company commissioned the 2024 MMGY Visitor Profile Summary with MMGY Global, an integrated marketing firm specializing in the travel and hospitality industries. The study revealed New Orleans welcomed 19.08 million visitors in 2024, a 6.4 percent increase from 2023’s 17.93 million visitors and near the 19.75 million high point in 2019. Visitors to the city in 2024 spent $10.4 billion, an 8.4 percent increase over $9.6 billion in total visitor spending in 2023 and eclipsing the 2019 high point of $10.045 billion. Hotel bookings also increased by 6.4 percent last year.
“I consider 2024 a defining year in our mission to inspire, promote and encourage travel to our city,” said Walt Leger III, President and CEO of New Orleans & Company. “This kind of growth doesn’t happen without implementing successful strategies across multiple sectors of visitors simultaneously, especially in such a competitive environment. It is a direct result of the diligent planning and innovative strategies in sales and marketing employed by the team at New Orleans & Company and our strategic partners throughout the community. Our ongoing efforts to ensure that New Orleans remains the most remarkable, unique and welcoming city in the world are creating a positive impact at the local and state level. As visitor spending helps businesses and their employees thrive, they re-invest in our community and strengthen our economy. And when New Orleans’ travel industry thrives, so does the state of Louisiana.”
The tourism and hospitality industry employs more than 80,0000 people in the New Orleans area. Tax revenue paid by visitors earns the city and state tens of millions of dollars for vital services including education, infrastructure and public safety for Louisiana communities.
As growth in the tourism industry has a huge economic impact on the region, New Orleans & Company has carefully tracked its numbers over the past two decades. In 2004, 10.1 million visitors spent $4.9 billion. Compare that to the nearly doubled 19.08 million visitors who spent $10.4 billion in 2024.
The media is also taking note. Time Out included New Orleans in its list of “Best Cities in the World to Visit in 2024,” and Southern Living readers ranked New Orleans number four in the “Top 25 Best Cities in the South.” New Orleans won the “2024 Best US Food Destination Travelers’ Choice Award” from TripAdvisor, and Travel+Leisure named New Orleans one of “15 Best Places to Travel in August 2024.”
In October 2024, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour’s three-night concert run brought more than 150,000 visitors, a record-setting 32,134 passengers to Louis Armstrong International Airport and sold-out hotels, generating at least $200 million in direct spending and an estimated total economic impact of $500 million.
In addition to spikes in leisure travel, New Orleans ranked third in the nation as a top convention destination, according to a 2024 study conducted by 2Synergize, LLC, Destinations International and Simpleview, surpassing cities like Chicago and Las Vegas.
Meetings and conventions form a foundational layer of New Orleans’ travel economy, contributing more than $2 billion in direct spending annually. Convention attendees typically stay longer, spend more and engage more small businesses throughout the community to produce their events.
New Orleans & Company helped bring major global events to the city in 2024 including the Bocuse d’Or— an international chef competition hosted for the first time in North America – and the prestigious Pastry World Cup. Both events are set to return in 2026. This competition is a critical component to promote and elevate the New Orleans culinary community as competition continues to increase globally.
Other 2024 highlights included the International WorkBoat Show, the Pokémon North America International Championships and over 1,000 conventions, meetings and leisure groups that bolster visitation. The Essence Festival of Culture also returned for its 30th Anniversary in 2024, featuring top-tier talent and dozens of national and international journalists.
“In 2024, we proved that New Orleans is truly ‘Built to Host,’ and crossing the 19-million visitor mark for the first time since the pandemic and only the second time in the city’s history is a big win for New Orleans,” said Leger. “New Orleans is a city built on hospitality, the industry that forms the foundation of our economy and fuels our quality of life. And that is what inspires our work at New Orleans & Company. Halfway into 2025, we are actively building on that positive momentum as we work every day to drive leisure and business travel to our city, for the benefit of the people who call it home.”
New Orleans Visitation History:
2003: 8.5 million visitors spending $4.5 billion2004: 10.1 million visitors spending $4.9 billion2005: *Hurricane Katrina2006: 3.7 million visitors spending $2.8 billion2007: 7.1 million visitors spending $4.8 billion2008: 7.6 million visitors spending $5.1 billion2009: 7.5 million visitors spending $4.2 billion2010: 8.3 million visitors spending $5.3 billion2011: 8.75 million visitors spending $5.47 billion2012: 9.01 million visitors spending $6.17 billion2013: 9.28 million visitors spending $6.47 billion2014: 9.52 million visitors spending $6.81 billion2015: 9.78 million visitors spending $7.05 billion2016: 10.45 million visitors spending $7.41 billion2017: 17.74 million visitors spending $8.7 billion2018: 18.51 million visitors spending $9.1 billion2019: 19.75 million visitors spending $10.045 billion2020: *Pandemic2021: 15.73 million visitors spending $8.33 billion2022: 17.53 million visitors spending $9.1 billion2023: 17.94 million visitors spending $9.6 billion2024: 19.08 million visitors spending $10.4 billion
For more details on how New Orleans & Company drove the tourism industry in 2024, read our Annual Report.
SOURCE: New Orleans & Company press release
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