New Orleans welcomes nearly 19 mn visitors in 2024

Tourism nearly doubles in two decades, with spending from $4.9 Bn to $10.4 Bn.

New Orleans & Company is celebrating the resilience, innovation and grit that it took to rebuild the city and economy. New Orleans went from 3.7 million visitors in 2006, the year after Katrina, to 19 million visitors in 2019, a number we achieved again in 2024 following COVID recovery years.

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.

Walt Leger III, President and CEO of New Orleans & Company, the official destination sales and marketing organisation for the New Orleans tourism industry, said, “The Katrina anniversary is traumatic for us as New Orleanians as we reflect on the nearly two thousand lives lost and the tens of thousands of people who lost their homes and everything they own. There was no blueprint for how to recover from a disaster of this magnitude, but persistence and determination guided our path. When some outsiders asked why we would even consider rebuilding or welcoming back visitors, New Orleans & Company and our partners executed one of the greatest turnaround stories in American history. We showed the world that tough times do not last, but tough people do.”