After the complications of the 2020 Mardi Gras and the cancellation of the 2021 season, 2022 Mardi Gras is shaping up to be a renaissance of the good times.
We talked to Kelly Schulz, the Vice President of Communications and Public Relations with New Orleans and Company, the city's tourism arm.
"An assessment of Mardi Gras 2022, is a very welcome event for New Orleans. There's so much pent up demand for Mardi Gras this year, there's so much anticipation," Schulz says. "So far we've seen big happy crowds of people, locals and visitors who have come out to enjoy the parades and the city."
According to Schulz, the numbers are panning out to be right up where traditional sky-high numbers are located.
"We always measure hotel occupancy and it's really common for Friday and Saturday night of the weekend to be the highest seen," Schulz explains. "It does drop off for Sunday night and Monday night, but I'll tell you, these very strong visitation numbers, are seeing lots of people coming in on flights, our hotel numbers are 70-to-80% full."
It is the biggest time of the year and numbers are important. Mardi Gras 2022 is the jumping off point for its campaign of conventions and tourism themed events for the rest of the year. Schulz says, "Mardi Gras is big business, it's big economically for sure. When you look at hotel occupancy, when people are staying in hotels they're also going to events, and they're going to restaurants and attractions and they're buying things in the city."
So from the numbers culled over the two weeks leading up to Mardi Gras can be a predictor of how people who come for other events, like Jazz Fest and the NCAA Final Four, will spend their money.
But there is a very personal thing about the return of the Mardi Gras season and the renaissance of people reconnecting with New Orleans and the celebration of Carnival Season.
"You can think about how much money is spent on throws and Mardi Gras balls and all the ancillary aspects that make Mardi Gras, it's a huge deal economically," Schulz says. "But it's also, I think this year more than ever, it's important emotionally and culturally. It's who we are as New Orleanians and how much we missed having parades last year."
