NEW DEVELOPMENTS: 

  • New Orleans is the Cultural Capital of the South, boasting many new cultural attractions, hotels and restaurants that have opened since 2019, and hundreds of millions of dollars of investments and upgrades at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and citywide.  
  • As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, the series of successful major events continues for New Orleans’ cultural economy. We started 2022 with the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Mardi Gras and the NCAA Men’s Final Four. Then we moved into Zurich Classic, Navy Week, French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest. This summer, we hosted the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience and Essence Festival of Culture. 
  • The United Soccer League (USL) has announced an exclusive partnership with USL NOLA, a group dedicated to bringing a professional soccer club to Greater New Orleans with the intent to launch a USL Championship men’s team by 2025 and a USL Super League women’s team.   
  • USL NOLA will launch an extensive outreach campaign to gather community input from New Orleanians to learn and guide the club in its efforts. USL NOLA intends to co-create the club with the community to ensure the organization embodies New Orleans’ lively spirit and energy. To learn more about the club visit uslnola.com. 
  • Windsor Court Hotel was voted the No. 1 hotel in New Orleans by Travel + Leisure readers in this year’s World’s Best Awards. Every year Travel + Leisure shares the World's Best Awards survey asking readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe. 
  • To view Travel + Leisure’s 5 Best Hotels in New Orleans click here.  
  • Four Seasons New Orleans and Hotel Saint Vincent have been named to the Travel + Leisure It List 2022, the 100 Best New Hotels in the World. 
  • The Peacock Room at Kimpton Hotel Fontenot was awarded Best Bar in the Hemispheres Magazine 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards. Also featured, the Jazz & Heritage Festival was named the Best Cultural Festival. 
  • The Audubon Zoo has been named one of the 14 best zoos in America by Travellers Worldwide.  
  • Four Seasons New Orleans and Hotel Saint Vincent have been named to the Travel + Leisure It List 2022, the 100 Best New Hotels in the World.  
  • The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center earned two major awards from the Louisiana Department of Environmental for major and impactful initiatives aimed at reducing the facility’s environmental footprint.  
  • The Environmental Leadership Program Awards, given to the Convention Center in the Community Environmental Outreach category, as well as the Energy and Water Pollution Reduction category, recognize outstanding activities and projects that demonstrate environmental leadership and the pursuit of a cleaner, safer environment. 
  • This certification makes the Convention Center the largest LEED certified project in Louisiana, the largest convention center project in the US.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

  • The second annual NOLAxNOLA is slated to return September 23-October 9, 2022. The festival is designed to suport the New Orleans music community and preserve vital tourism business in the fall.  
  • In its inaugural year, 35 venues from nearly every neighborhood in the city participated over a span of two weeks, including Tipitinas, Preservation Hall, The Howlin’ Wolf, d.b.a., Kermit Ruffins’ Mother In Law Lounge, The Maple Leaf, Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro, Buffas, the Saturn Bar, Three Keys, Gasa Gasa and Cafe Istanbul. In total there were more than 300 shows over 10 days in October.
  • Starting on Veterans Day 2022, the National World War II Museum will open Expressions of America, a first-of-its-kind nighttime sound and light experience celebrating the power of individual Americans to impact the world around them during a time of monumental conflict. 
  • Expressions of America will immerse audiences in written words, songs, and personal reflections of the everyday men and women who served our country in every way imaginable during World War II.  
  • Generously presented by the Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation, Expressions of America will uniquely combine the latest outdoor projection technology with wartime letters and oral histories from the Museum’s collection to allow audiences to experience the stories of the WWII generation like never before.
  • 2022 Festival Calendar Highlights:  
    • For a full list of events, click here.