New Orleans News | Press

SPECIAL EVENTS

Bocuse d’Or and Pastry World Cup to be held in the United States for the first time in 2024  

• New Orleans & Company will host the two continental selections, North and South Americas, of the most prestigious international culinary and pastry competitions June 11-13 2024, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center showcasing the best pastry chefs and cooks from all over the American continent. 

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will stop in New Orleans  

• In October 2024, Taylor Swift will have a three-night concert at the Caesars Superdome. New Orleans joined Miami and Indianapolis as three additional US stops at the end of the Eras Tour. Taylor Swift follows Beyonce as the second global musical icon to make New Orleans one of the final stops of their recent world tours.  

New Orleans to host Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in 2025 

• Following the conclusion of Super Bowl LVIII in February, the Las Vegas Host Committee will officially hand off the football to the New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee for Super Bowl LIX.  

Jazz Fest Expands to Eight Days 

• The 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, New Orleans’ biggest annual music event, plans to expand to eight days and is now slated to open at the Fair Grounds on Thursday, April 25, instead of Friday, April 26. The 2024 fest will consist of two four-day, Thursday to Sunday weekends: April 25-28 and May 2-5. 

• The Rolling Stones are set to headline Jazz Fest on Thursday, May 2 – the band’s only festival appearance on their 2024 tour. The full festival lineup will be released in January.  

Essence Festival of Culture 30th Anniversary 

• In 2024, Essence Festival of Culture will celebrate its 30th anniversary in New Orleans. Held over Fourth of July weekend at the Caesars Superdome and other venues in the city, this three-day party named for its founder and sponsoring magazine combines high-octane music performances with inspirational speakers and provocative conversations about gender, race, culture, and art. 

Prospect 6 New Orleans  

• Prospect 6 New Orleans is a citywide contemporary art triennial and the first exhibition of its kind in the US with a decade-long history. Every three years, we bring new art to an old city by inviting artists from all over the world to create projects in a wide variety of venues spread throughout New Orleans. 

The U.S. Travel Association announced in December 2023 that New Orleans was selected as the IPW host city for 2027 

• This is a significant win for the city, state, and economy as the event will bring in thousands of international travel buyers and journalists representing 60+ countries to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. According to U.S. travel, past IPW’s have generated more than $5.5 billion in future travel to the U.S. by connecting travel buyers and media to promote their products and negotiate future business, securing America’s position as a foremost global travel destination.  

• IPW is a major step forward in achieving one of our strategic goals to restore international tourism. New Orleans & Company has a strong partnership with Washington DC - based US Travel Association, the national, non-profit organization whose mission is to increase travel to and within the United States, and in doing so, fuel our nation’s economy and future growth. IPW 2027 will be our fifth time hosting this prestigious event, after 2016, 2002, 1993 and 1979. 

HOTELS

Caesars Hotel/Nobu Hotel 

• Caesars Entertainment, Inc. is investing $435 million to expand, renovate and rebrand the 450-room Harrah’s Hotel and Casino with the 340-room hotel tower under construction expected to be completed by 2024.  

• Prepare for a new level of luxury as Caesars continues to make its mark in New Orleans. This multimillion-dollar transformation of the former Harrah's New Orleans will elevate the city's luxury offerings, promising an unforgettable stay. Nobu Hotel New Orleans and restaurant are also set to open within the Caesars Hotel New Orleans. 

• Nobu Restaurant is a high-end sushi concept, whose New York and Los Angeles presence bodes well for New Orleans’ emerging reconsideration nationally.   

Dew Drop Inn Hotel and Lounge 

• The Dew Drop Inn Hotel and Lounge, on Lasalle Street in Central City, will reopen in December 2023. The boutique hotel will include 17 hotel rooms, a live music venue and a resort style pool. 

• First opened in 1938 by Frank Painia, the Dew Drop was a hotel, music venue and barber shop. Legendary musicians played on its stage including Ray Charles, Little Richard, Deacon John and Irma Thomas.   

Hotel Freedia  

• Big Freedia is realizing a longtime dream of opening up a boutique nightclub/hotel in New Orleans. The groundbreaking on the Hotel Freedia took place in Spring 2024, with the aim of opening for business by Mardi Gras 2024.    

• The hotel will be located on Decatur and Frenchmen streets in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood. The space will only have five rooms and operate more as a nightclub with food, drinks, music, and an outdoor pool space.  

Copper Vine Winepub & Inn 

• Copper Vine’s expansion will evolve the brand into Copper Vine Winepub & Inn, a ‘restaurant-first’ take on a traditional bed-and-breakfast with 11 rooms and increased restaurant floor plan for expanded dining and private events. Opening is scheduled for early 2024.  

Restaurant R’evolution at the Royal Sonesta 

• Restaurant R’evolution is in a new season of vitality after 10 years. Sonesta International invested $1.5 million to refresh Restaurant R’evolution, including final kitchen touches coming in 2024. With the refresh also came a return of many tenured team members as well as new talent in the restaurant brigade: chefs, waitstaff, sommeliers, bartenders, and management. The team brims with vitality, fresh ideas, and exceptional creativity. 

• In Chef John Folse’s fifty-year culinary odyssey around the globe, nuance of flavors influenced his palate and crept into his culinary melting pot. Restaurant R’evolution is the epitome of diverse tastes and flavors; the Holy Grail of dining experiences; my magnum opus. 

For a full list of renovated hotels in New Orleans, visit neworleans.com. 

VENUES 

New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center 

• The LEED Gold-certified New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC) continues forging ahead with its ambitious $557 million improvement plan. An energy-efficient 1.9 million square foot roof is set for full installation by mid-2024. Renovations are underway in lobbies, 140 meeting rooms and pre-function areas with upcoming enhancements planned for entrances. The Convention Center and River District Neighborhood Investors (RDNI) recently broke ground on the River District—a dynamic mixed-use development spanning 39 acres of prime riverfront land adjacent to the Center. The project has been hailed as a generational opportunity to activate undeveloped urban riverfront land as a transformative asset for the New Orleans region and the state of Louisiana. This brand-new neighborhood will further solidify New Orleans’ reputation as a city that’s “Built to Host.” 

Common House  

• Common House will open in New Orleans in early summer 2024. In partnership with Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners, Common House will take over the former Louisiana Children’s Museum space at 420 Julia Street.   

• The 20,000 square-foot “modern social club” will feature a social hall, restaurant, rooftop pool, fitness center, courtyard, open co-working space and conference rooms. In addition, there will be multiple spaces for private events that can accommodate weddings, cocktail receptions, and corporate events of up to 300 guests. 

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium  

• The Audubon Nature Institute completed its renovation of the Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium reopening on June 8, 2023 – World Ocean’s Day. This project was the biggest renovation of the Aquarium since it opened on Canal Street in 1990. The renovation makes the Audubon campus the only aquarium/insectarium under one roof in the world. 

Riverfront Facelift 

• There also is big facelift coming to the riverfront near the French Quarter. Audubon Nature Institute has proposed a new park that has been an industrial site for years. Riverfront For All, a project of Audubon, New Orleans & Company and the Morial Convention Center, aims to create one of the largest contiguous riverfront parks in the nation.  

• The Mississippi River is being dubbed the city’s front porch, and the redevelopment of the Governor Nicholls and Esplanade wharves will offer 2.25 miles of waterfront access. 

• This historic project will unlock a key stretch of land, expanding access for locals and visitors to enjoy riverfront access in a way that honors the original design of the city. Transforming the last two industrial wharves on New Orleans downtown riverfront will create 2.25 miles of open space and will increase access for the community to enjoy the ‘front porch’ of the city of New Orleans. The project will extend from Crescent Park in the Bywater neighborhood to Spanish Plaza at the foot of Canal Street. Once we are finished developing this park, people will be able to walk, bike, jog all the way from Spanish Plaza all the way through Crescent Park. 

River District Neighborhood  

• The River District Neighborhood will activate undeveloped urban riverfront land as a transformative asset for the New Orleans region and the state of Louisiana. It will include dining, retail, housing, and entertainment options- Top Golf announced, and incorporate the latest trends in urban planning with a focus on creating green spaces and community gathering places. 

• Shell will be relocating its New Orleans office into the new River District project, located near the Convention Center along the Mississippi River. Shell will serve as the anchor tenant for the new River District — one of the most promising new mixed-use neighborhoods in the country — occupying the first Class A office building to be constructed in New Orleans since 1989. 

DISNEY

Disney World and Disneyland - Tiana’s Bayou Adventure  

• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, based off the New Orleans-set movie “The Princess and the Frog”, will take the place of Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. 

LATE 2023 REOPENINGS 

National WWII Museum – Liberation Pavilion 

• The National WWII Museum opened the highly anticipated Liberation Pavilion, its final permanent exhibit hall, and officially dedicate the Col. Battle Barksdale Parade Ground, an outdoor gathering space in the heart of the New Orleans campus, on November 3, 2023. 

• The November celebration will mark the completion of the $400 million Road to Victory Capital Campaign that has propelled the extraordinary growth of the Museum’s campus from one exhibit hall to seven pavilions over the past two decades. Liberation Pavilion explores the end of World War II, the Holocaust, the postwar years and how the war continues to impact our lives today. 

RECENT AWARDS AND RECOGNITION  

• The Good Housekeeping Institute named New Orleans a “must see city” for 2024 getaways. New Orleans won alongside three other cities that were thoroughly evaluated on attributes such as quality, convenience, value, sustainability, inclusivity and more.   

• New Orleans has been named a 2024 Good Housekeeping Family Travel Awards Winner. 

• New Orleans & Company won a Recommend’s Readers' Choice Award for Best Destination – Culinary. 

• New Orleans & Company won two 2023 Prevue Visionary Awards from Prevue Meetings+Incentives. New Orleans was named Best U.S. Destination for Meeting & Conventions – Small (under 500,000 populations) and New Orleans & Company was named Best CVB/DMO meeting and incentive planner support by region – Southeast. 

• Corporate & Incentive Travel gave New Orleans an Award of Excellence which recognizes hotels, resorts, conference centers and convention and visitors bureaus that have demonstrated their overall commitment to excellence. 

• Smart Meetings awarded New Orleans a Platinum Choice award which celebrates extraoridinary venues and destinations. 

• Smart Meetings also awarded Stephanie Turner, New Orleans & Company SVP of Convention Sales & Strategies, a 2023 Catalyst Award – Aplitude Award. This award celebrates the critical role Turner played in advancing the entire industry, her community, and the individual meetings that have come into her gravitational pull over the last year. 

• New Orleans was named one of Smart Meetings’ 2023 Smart Stars - a prestigious awards platform that recognizes meeting planners’ preferences for hotels, resorts, properties, cruise lines, and conference and convention centers worldwide. 

• New Orleans & Company was named to Convention South Readers’ Choice Awards voted on by 8,000 readers for their choice of suppliers.  

• New Orleans was named to Meetings Today Best of 2023 list recognizing the standout properties and destinations that have really risen to the occasion to host your meetings. 

• The Roosevelt New Orleans was named the winner of USA Today’s 10Best Reader’s Choice travel award contest for BEST HOTEL FOR THE HOLIDAYS. The hotel was nominated by an expert panel and chosen from a group of 20 other hotels by readers across the country.  

• Chef EJ Lagassee has been awarded "New Talent of the Year Award 2024" by La Liste, a prominent French ranking and restaurant guide. EJ was the sole recipient from North America to be honored. 

Media Contact
MaryBeth Romig
Associate Vice President, Communications & Public Relations
mbromig@neworleans.com, 504-556-5050