Hotel tax collections in New Orleans are lagging compared to last year, but Superdome officials say they're not surprised.
In fact, they say there is a silver lining to those statistics.
Officials said during the monthly Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District meeting that hotel tax revenues are lower than they were this time last year, but that's because the 2025 figures got a major boost from the Super Bowl. Still, district officials say several big events have helped to pad the city's and the dome's coffers.
"We're actually above our budget, which was a very strong point. We're about four percent above our previous March budget," Corey Dublin, the director of business operations for Legends Global said. "That's mainly due to the Savannah Bananas (and) the 120,000 people that came into the city. The majority of these people were from out of town and staying in hotel rooms. By booking those kinds of events, we've been able to help the hotel/motel tax as much as we can."
Dublin says this could be the of a possible rebound for the city's hotel tax revenues.
"Having the Hondo Rodeo, having the Savannah Bananas, (and) bringing people in, (we're) really excited, and hopefully we'll see that April turnout with Jazz Fest being one of the strongest they've had in a long time," Dublin said. "We're staying optimistic for a strong finish there."
