Dear Friends of New Orleans & Company,  

We have many things to be proud of as we forge ahead into the second quarter of 2025. I am thrilled to announce that after a three-year process, New Orleans & Company recently received word that New Orleans is one of only two U.S. cities to be considered for the prestigious UNESCO Creative Cities Network!

We are pursuing the UNESCO Creative City of Music Designation, although there are multiple categories that would apply to New Orleans. If selected, this designation will fortify New Orleans’ seat at the global table, open doors and shine a light on our rich cultural landscape for musicians and music lovers. We appreciate the support of Mayor Cantrell and our advisory board of experts. Stay tuned for next steps in the process.

Also, Time Out Magazine named New Orleans as the world’s best city for food right now! New Orleans was the only US city to make the list. This is one of many accolades we are receiving … please click here for the full list and help us share this great news about our city.

We have had quite an unusual first quarter, but this communication represents a return to our regular format showing progress against our strategic plan. Everything we do at New Orleans & Company is designed to inspire, promote and encourage travel to our city for the economic, social and community benefit of New Orleans and its people.

Strategic Goal One: Deliver the Most Innovative and Exceptional Sales and Service
  • Meetings and conventions form the foundation of New Orleans’ visitor segments. The economic impact of meetings will contribute nearly $2 billion in direct spending in New Orleans this year. None of this happens without the New Orleans & Company Convention Sales team. They have booked over 300 meetings into the first quarter of 2025 and are on pace to meet the first quarter goal of 312,000 new definite room nights.
  • They also launched a 2025 version of Built To Host, which introduced a new sales promotional video, which can be found here. Please share this video with your customers.
  • Following a successful execution of the National Automobile Dealers Association annual meeting with our partners during the historic snowstorm, convention groups continue to arrive every day including The National Demolition Association Annual Convention & Expo and hundreds of others. Days after the Super Bowl, we hosted the nation's premier literacy gathering, which was the subject of this article in The Advocate/nola.com.
Strategic Goal Two: Make New Orleans a Great Place to Live, Work and Visit
  • New Orleans & Company was a proud sponsor of the Recycle Dat! Initiative for the third year in a row. During the 2025 Carnival Season, the initiative successfully diverted an impressive 73,858 total pounds away from landfills. This total includes 3,828 pounds of aluminum, which is roughly 100,000 cans; 905 pounds of plastic bottles, roughly 23,490 bottles; 46,321 pounds of glass; and 22,803 pounds of Mardi Gras beads and throws! For the full press release, please click here.
  • Published in Gambit and The Advocate, Tourism Matters is designed to educate Louisiana residents about the work of New Orleans & Company and how tourism benefits our entire city and state. Our first quarter issue of Tourism Matters, newly rebranded, focused on our work to change the narrative about New Orleans. The digital version is available here.
Strategic Goal Three: Create and Own a Clear, World-Class Brand for New Orleans
  • The PR Team has had a phenomenal first quarter, earning hundreds of positive stories during Super Bowl LIX; a live broadcast from The Today Show for the fourth year in a row; a Mardi Gras morning satellite media tour with SVP Kelly Schulz doing 32 consecutive live TV interviews in 30 markets reaching more than seven million viewers; the announcement of WrestleMania 42; and much more.
  • The Marketing Team is formalizing an internal playbook that can be leveraged to deploy short-term campaigns to directly bolster hotel occupancy over need periods. Our goal was to build and launch an Advocacy Campaign with input from External Affairs, Communications, and Executive Leadership. The first step in this process - building a corporate site - is complete.
Strategic Goal Four: Restore International Tourism
  • The Tourism Sales Team has been on the road, representing New Orleans globally including at the Brand USA's India Sales and Media Mission; FITUR Spain's largest International Tourism Fair; and Travel South’s Mission to Italy.
  • During Mardi Gras, we hosted four senior product managers from top-producing tour operators in Germany, as well as the leadership team of Paramount Cruises, a boutique and independent cruise specialist travel agency based in London.
  • The Tourism Team worked in partnership with PR to host several international journalists from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, India and Spain during Mardi Gras, including a ride in Orpheus!

In closing, I am pleased to recognize our SVP of Tourism Kim Priez on her appointment as President of SKAL New Orleans, and our SVP of Convention Sales and Strategies Stephanie Turner who was named a Visionary in the 2025 Smart Meetings Women in Meetings Awards. Stephanie and Kim are part of an incredible team of professionals at New Orleans & Company. I am so proud of the tireless work they all do every day for our community.

Please plan to join us on May 8th for our National Travel and Tourism Week Luncheon, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Hilton Riverside …. tickets go on sale in a few days. In the meantime, please enjoy spring festival season, a beautiful time for our visitors and for all of us who are fortunate to call this city home. We will talk soon.

Sincerely, 

Walter J. Leger III
President & CEO
New Orleans & Company