New Orleans CVB Press Release: Mayor, city tourism leaders announce record city visitation numbers

Mayor C. Ray Nagin and officials from the University of New Orleans’ (UNO) Hospitality Research Center, the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation (NOTMC), New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau (NOMCVB), New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network (NOMTN), announced at a press conference today that a record 10.1 million visitors came to New Orleans in 2004, breaking 2003’s all-time best visitation figure of 8.55 million, according to University of New Orleans Hospitality Research Center.

Direct spending from visitors exceeded $4.9 billion in 2004, according to the industry research conducted by UNO, an increase of more than $400 million over 2003.

“Tourism is the foundation of the city’s business industry, and the image we project to attract visitors to New Orleans also presents the positive image we want the world to identify with us,” said Nagin.  “The numbers released today by UNO show incredible visitor growth and a united tourism industry that works together to ensure that New Orleans is known as one of the world’s great destinations.”

Nagin cited several indicators to support New Orleans’ reputation as a top travel destination, including UNO’s research showing the city is ranked sixth in the country in top of mind awareness among travelers – an improvement of three places over the previous year – and the same ranking Condé Nast Traveler gave the city in 2004.  But the Mayor also said the bar for success has been raised.

“To grow demand and keep up with both an increase in hotel room inventory and nationwide competition, the industry needs to work harder and focus more of its financial resources to continue luring visitors at an ever-growing rate,” Nagin said.

The visitor study conducted by the Hospitality Research Center at UNO showed that leisure travelers comprised 75 percent of all visitors coming to the city, and convention and business travelers comprised 25 percent. Of those visitors, overnight leisure travelers comprised 69.4 percent of visitors, and convention and business travelers made up the remaining 28.6 percent. Daytrippers comprised 2 percent of overall visitors to New Orleans in 2004.

“The national marketplace for convention and business meetings is more competitive than ever, and our ability to proactively adapt to this changing environment resulted in the city’s hosting of eight of the top medical conventions in 2004,” said J. Stephen Perry, NOMCVB President and CEO. “We’re looking forward being even more successful in 2005, with an increase of 30 percent in the number of conventions and meetings booked in New Orleans. These bookings represent a 16 percent increase in Convention Center occupancy. We also anticipate a rise this year of more than 13 percent in the number of conventions with over 5,000 attendees, with 45 in 2005 versus 29 in 2004.”

The NOMCVB, which drives travel agent relations and business development, was pleased to note 20 percent growth in the number of visitors utilizing travel agents to book trips to New Orleans, with one in every four visitors to New Orleans using travel agent services. NOMCVB’s group leisure strategies produced 100 percent growth in group travel room night bookings in the past 24 months. NOMCVB’s travel agent marketing strategies also led to significant niche market growth, specifically in wedding and student group leisure travel bookings, which were up 38 percent and 45 percent over 2003, respectively.

NOMCVB’s proactive media relations efforts reinforced its convention and group leisure marketing programs, generating more than  $15 million in advertising equivalency and over 2,000 positive articles about New Orleans in 2004.

Other key figures released by UNO showed that repeat visitors made up 65.5 percent of all visitors, acknowledging that New Orleans makes a positive impression that has people returning time and again, Nagin said.  The survey also included visitor perception ratings, in which 92.7 percent of those surveyed gave New Orleans the highest overall rating on a scale of one to five.

Nagin noted two demographic groups whose visitation had increased dramatically and attributed the growth to niche marketing efforts led by NOTMC – those targeting multicultural and family travelers.

“Our city is open to all visitors, and we want to do everything we can to reach every traveler,” Nagin said. “Multicultural travelers are one of the fastest growing audience groups in the industry, and we are attracting these visitors, as African American travelers now account for almost 19 percent of all travelers visiting New Orleans.”

“Family reunions are the fastest growing segment among multicultural travelers,” said Toni Rice, President of NOMTN.  “In New Orleans, we’ve increased our marketing focus to target these groups, and we’ve seen more of these groups choosing our city as their reunion destination.”

While the length of visitor stay has declined to about 3 nights in 2004 from 3.4 nights in 2003, according to the UNO survey, Smith Travel Research figures show that hotel occupancy grew about 1 percent over the previous year in New Orleans, even with hotel room inventory growing 3.3 percent.

Dr. Janet Speyrer, who headed up the UNO research team, also touted the growth of average daily rate figures for New Orleans, which increased by nearly 3 percent during 2004, generating additional tax revenue for the city. Since 1995, when New Orleans had 25,362 hotel rooms, the city’s hotel room inventory has grown to 38,238.

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