Tourism in New Orleans remains strong despite terrorist attack. Will the trend last?

by

Stephan Bisaha

• Published on February 11, 2025 • Last modified on February 10, 2025 • Comments

After the shock and grief that followed a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people on New Year’s Day, New Orleans business owners worried the visitors they rely on would avoid the city.

But so far, a little more than a month removed from the incident, the tourists are still coming.

For businesses, it’s not a self-centered concern, but a matter of survival. Today’s New Orleans is built on — and would suffer greatly without — tourism. About 17 million people visited New Orleans in 2022, spending more than $9 billion. Much of that happened during Mardi Gras, which made the New Year’s Day attack especially concerning, since it happened right before the start of the season.

Businesses are watching closely for signs of what kind of impact the attack would have on their economy, from hotel cancellations to postseason football attendance, like the NCAA’s College Football Playoff game and the NFL's Super Bowl.

So far, these different tests suggest visitors have stuck with the city, keeping their reservations and travel plans.

Still, the mood lacks the celebration of previous Mardi Gras, and business owners wonder if future travelers will avoid the Crescent City post-Carnival season.

Sugar Bowl attendance sends mixed signal

Filer image — Fans leave the Caesars Superdome with a large presence of security after the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans.
AP Photo/Butch Dill

The first test for the city’s hospitality industry came the day after the attack.

The annual Sugar Bowl, which was an NCAA College Football Playoff semifinal game this year, was originally scheduled to be played on New Year’s Day — mere hours after the attack — before being postponed to the next day.

Results for this first test were mixed.

On one hand, the game was played in front of the smallest crowd in Sugar Bowl history — or any BSC game at the Superdome, according to Sports Business Journal. Some fans may have also decided to leave the city out of fear rather than travel arrangements.

But on the other, attendance still tallied in at a little more than 57,000 — far from empty, and not bad numbers-wise considering many fans were likely unable to stay the extra day.

Super Bowl 59 attendance will be a further test for the city. The city expects more than 100,000 visitors in town this weekend and has heightened security measures in and around the Caesars Superdome — where the game will take place — and the French Quarter in preparation.

‘The French Quarter’s been especially quiet’

Christmas might be the king of sales everywhere else, but in New Orleans, that crown goes to Mardi Gras.

This is why business owners were eager to get an answer to the second test: would tourists who already made plans to visit during the 2025 Carnival season still come?

“Mardi Gras is the bigger holiday,” said Lauren Haydel, owner of the New Orleans t-shirt company Fleurty Girl. “I would say [Christmas is] not even close.”

Haydel started running Fleurty Girl out of her home in 2009 to make up for a lack of shirts showing off New Orleans and Saints pride while still having a feminine cut. The business has since grown to nine locations across Louisiana and Mississippi.

Part of her specialty comes from capturing the moment with a design. When Taylor Swift brought her Eras Tour to the city, Haydel leaned into the Swiftie sales bump with her prints, like pairing a smirking beignet with the song “Shake it Off.”

After the New Year's Day attack, just two blocks from her French Quarter store, Haydel received a flood of messages from customers asking when she would have a shirt out to mark the tragedy. She created a sticker that says “love one another” in Mardi Gras’s purple, green and gold with proceeds going to the New Orleans New Year's Day Tragedy Fund.

But when it came to a shirt, “nothing felt good enough.”

“Nothing felt right,” she said. “That’s never been the case. I don’t know why. I just felt still.”

Overall, traffic to her store has been what she would expect for this time of year, with a short lull after Christmas and before Mardi Gras picks up in earnest.

“The French Quarter’s been especially quiet,” she said.

Crowds still make her feel uncomfortable since the attack, but she believes this will be the safest Mardi Gras that New Orleans has ever had.

Ahead of the Super Bowl, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency and used that power to remove homeless encampments near the Superdome, calling them a security concern, to the dismay of advocacy groups who said the relocations did not respect people’s rights.

The city’s also currently considering whether it should turn part of the French Quarter into a pedestrian mall. One study into the economic effects of terrorism found that demonstrating improved security measures can cut back on a tourism drop.

'It's a city that rallies around people'

The same study found that places seen as “must-visit travel destinations” had less of a tourism decline.

New Orleans has long been one of the top U.S. cities for luring in visitors with the promise of vice. A new museum in the French Quarter is dedicated to showing off that history.

The New Orleans Storyville Museum opened in September, sharing the story of the city’s former red light district. Peep show machines sit next to a display boasting of New Orleans' role inventing Poker. Portraits of prostitutes range from those wearing elaborate dresses, to no clothes at all, to women playing with their dogs.

The weekend following the attack saw business slow, owner Claus Sadlier said, and a somber mood had settled in the French Quarter. The next weekend, however, the Museum had its second-busiest weekend yet and attendance continues to grow.

Claus’ friends from out of town have also kept their plans to visit the city during Mardi Gras. He said the initial dire concerns about business after the attack have not come true.

If there's any lesson from Storyville for the current moment, according to Claus, it’s that the city has always been a place where visitors and residents come together to find a way to have a good time, even during rough ones.

“It’s a city that rallies around its people,” he said. “It doesn’t take things too seriously.”

Conventions, conferences still thriving

For the third test of the city’s hospitality industry, look to the conventions.

While the flash of Mardi Gras’ parades might get the attention, conferences are also an important part of bringing visitors to town.

A single conference could bring ten of thousands ready to crawl the city’s bars and buy a souvenir alligator oven mitt.

So far, they’re still coming too.

“No events have been canceled,” Walt Leger, the CEO of New Orleans and Company said.

The days after the attack, conventions continued rolling into the city. About 22,000 visitors came in mid-January for the National Auto Dealers Association. One study ranked New Orleans as the third top destination in the country for conventions.

Of course, most of these events and personal trips that have taken place this year were put on the calendar well before the attack.

While it’s a positive sign visitors stuck to their plans, the final test will be with the tourists who’ve yet to book their trip. Will they still come to the city’s numerous festivals throughout the spring and summer? And what about Saints games in the fall?

Haydel is uncertain whether people will make future plans to visit her city.

“The people who were visiting now probably had their plans booked before it happened, she said. "So, pretty soon, we're going to be looking at people who were choosing to come after this happened.

"If you're listening, please still come, because we’re ready to show you a good time.”

This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.