Business travelers are set to start returning to New Orleans en masse next week for the city's first major convention since the pandemic began. A representative with New Orleans and Company said about 10,000 people will participate in the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s convention.
It’ll be a big boost to the local economy, as business visitors plug a vital gap. They pack restaurants and other businesses during the weekdays and non-holiday periods when general tourist traffic is low, and require a huge influx of services from a number of sectors to facilitate smooth conventions. This, coupled with the recent highly successful Halloween weekend, all points to a return to previous record high pre-pandemic levels of tourism the city was experiencing pre-pandemic.
But are local businesses staffed enough to return to pre-pandemic levels of hospitality demand? UNO Economics Professor Mark Rosa said there are citywide service industry staffing problems right now.
“People want to come down here and eat and enjoy the weather and the French Quarter and the city, but it’s got to be with a workforce that is able to service them, or everyone is going to have a really bad experience,” said Rosa who added that many businesses are operating at limited hours, including many restaurants that are down to four days a week, or have cut out lunch service.
So, those business travelers visiting the city will have to understand that they may not receive the usual red carpet New Orleans experience, and may have to settle for 75% of what they might have received before according to Rosa. That may dissuade some of those visitors from picking New Orleans again.
“There could be disappointment at many levels with somebody coming down without knowing they could have a muted experience,” said Rosa. “Oh, I came here five years ago and it was great and I did this and I did that.”
Rosa said there’s also a risk that this combination of a huge surge in demand combined with understaffing could burn out many remaining service industry workers.
“You can’t stress the people who are coming to work too hard, you can’t say I need you to work eight days a week, 30 hours a day… we know what’s going to happen with that,” said Rosa.
Rosa said the tourism and convention industry appears to be bouncing back faster than many economists predicted it would now that COVID has waned locally. The labor market, however, remains unchanged amidst the Great Resignation.
“I don’t know when the end of that is,” said Rosa who added not only did many service industry workers transition out of the field during the pandemic, but a report noted 3 million Americans took early retirements.
There is one thing New Orleans has going for it in this crisis of supply vs. demand; nearly every other city in the country is currently facing the same problem.
