With Jazz Fest in the books what comes next for New Orleans?
The city stays busy through May with Bayou Boogaloo running Friday, May 20th through Sunday the 22nd and Greek Fest picking up the next weekend starting Friday, May 27th and running through Sunday, May 29th.
Alongside those festivals, the city will stay packed with visitors thanks in part to two major medical conventions this month from the American Psychiatric Association and the American Diabetes Association. New Orleans and Company’s Kelly Shulz told WWL combined they should bring in about 20,000 people.
“Things are not slowing down which is a really good thing and it continues the positive trend we’ve been seeing for 2022,” said Shulz.
While we aren’t set to match the record 19 million visitors and ten billion in tourism spending from 2019, Shulz said we’ve had a strong year so far. The year began with the Sugar Bowl, then Mardi Gras, the Final Four, the Crescent City Classic, Navy Week, French Quarter Fest, the Zurich Classic, and Jazz Fest.
“It’s much needed after the hospitality industry suffered so much these past two years,” said Shulz.
With COVID restrictions lifted Shulz said we’re starting to see international visitor numbers rebound strongly. The direct flight to England is back online at Louis Armstrong and in July Air Canada will resume direct flights.
