NEW ORLEANS - (July 12, 2017) - New Orleans continues to charm visitors from around the world and earn praise with recent designations in the Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2017 just announced. The readers of the prominent travel magazine have named New Orleans the No. 4 City in the U.S. and The Old No. 77 Hotel & Chandlery the No. 13 City Hotel in the continental United States. This is the fourth consecutive year that New Orleans has been named a top five city in the country.

 

"New Orleans has a rich history of welcoming visitors from around the globe to enjoy our inventive cuisine, original jazz, cultural authenticity and way of life. There are more restaurants, things to do and places to stay in New Orleans than ever before, and we are in a unique position of tremendous development and excitement gearing up for the city's 300th birthday in 2018 to continue to impress and attract visitors with an unparalleled experience," said Stephen Perry, President and CEO, New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It's an honor to be recognized as one of the top 15 cities in the U.S. because the designation was voted on directly from the readers of Travel +Leisure, our visitors."

In its 22nd year, Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards is an annual readers' survey that rates destinations, hotels, airports, cruise lines and more. New Orleans ranked ahead of Nashville, Chicago, Boston and Portland, Ore. in the list of U.S. Best Cities, and was included in the top four along with Charleston, Savannah, and Sante Fe. Readers ranked cities on their sights and landmarks, culture, cuisine, friendliness, shopping, and overall value.

"As a leader in the travel industry, receiving accolades from Travel + Leisure is indeed a unique honor," said Mark Romig, President and CEO of New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation. "We thank the readers who participated in awarding this honor to New Orleans and know this will help further our messaging that New Orleans is a special place to visit anytime, including during our Tricentennial year in 2018."

New Orleans' designation as a World's Best City follows a string of accolades in recent years including Southern Living's Best Cities in the South, Condé Nast Traveler's list of Best Big Cities in the U.S., Thrillist's list of Most Romantic Cities, The Washington Post's list of 10 Best Food Cities in America, Travel + Leisure's list of America's Favorite Cities and among others.

More information on Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards and a complete list of winners can be found at www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best.

The New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau is a nationally accredited, 1,100-member destination marketing organization and the largest and most successful private economic development corporation in Louisiana. The CVB and its members influence thousands of decision-makers and millions of visitors to choose New Orleans through direct sales, marketing, public relations, branding and visitor services at our New Orleans headquarters and offices in Chicago, Louisville, KY, Washington, D.C. and six foreign countries. Consistently recognized as one of the top five CVBs in the country, the New Orleans CVB celebrates its 57th anniversary in 2017. For more information, please visit www.neworleanscvb.com; www.facebook.com/neworleans; www.twitter.com/neworleans.

The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation is the City of New Orleans' official leisure travel promotion agency created to foster jobs and economic growth by developing the tourism industry in New Orleans. NOTMC is publicly funded and provides year-round online marketing, advertising, public relations and special event programming in order to support the growth of leisure travel to New Orleans.

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Media Contacts:
Kristian Sonnier, New Orleans CVB, 504-566-5045, ksonnier@neworleanscvb.com
Lea Sinclair, NOTMC, 504-491-5330, lea@notmc.com