Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, tourism officials in the city are trumpeting the return of its multimillion-dollar convention industry — and reclaiming revenues they lost last year to other major convention destinations like Washington.
Convention cities, including the District, scrambled to relocate multiple conventions from New Orleans in the wake of Katrina.
New Orleans lost about $2 billion in convention-related revenue to other cities between September and May.
The District rebooked five of those conventions, according to data from the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corp., transferring an additional 30,000 visitors — and their money — to the city’s bottom line through 2008.
D.C. only took in one convention in 2005 because the city already had a full convention calendar, said Victoria Isley, a spokeswoman for the Tourism Corp. The city’s four other New Orleans conventions were booked for January of this year through 2008.
But the one convention D.C. did book last year, the American Society for Microbiology, brought 12,000 attendees in December — a historically low-occupancy month for the District.
The convention “made a significant impact” on the city’s convention business, Isley said.
“When you consider that each attendee spends just over $1,000, that one convention brought in over $12 million on one of the lowest months of the year,” Isley said.
But convention cities won’t be seeing any additional business in the coming years from New Orleans, which is considered one of the top destinations for such meetings in the country, said Kelly Schulz, a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau. The New Orleans bureau has launched an aggressive publicity campaign to lure conventions back, including courting meeting planners, Schulz said. After visiting the city, 95 percent of meeting planners have agreed to keep their meeting — which are often booked years in advance — in the city.
New Orleans hosted its first citywide post-Katrina meeting earlier this month and several smaller conventions in recent months. The American Library Association brought 17,000 attendees to the city’s convention center and nearly 30 of its hotels.
Conventions relocated to D.C. after Katrina
American Society for Microbiology
» Dates: 12/17/05-12/20/05
» Attendees: 12,000
Association of American Law Schools
» Dates: 1/3/06-1/7/06
» Attendees: 2,500
National Notary Association
» Dates: 5/30/06-6/2/06
» Attendees: 1,000
Association of American Law Schools
» Dates: 1/2/07-1/6/07
» Attendees: 2,500
American College of Physicians Internal Medicine/Doctors for Adults
» Dates: 5/13/08-5/17/08
» Attendees: 6,000
