New Orleans CVB Gets (Some) State Funding
-- Tradeshow Week, 7/14/2008
The consequences of Hurricane Katrina still are reverberating in New Orleans, but a one-time budget request, approved by the Louisiana State Legislature, will assist the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau with its tourism marketing efforts and aid in operational shortfalls, some still left over from the hurricane.
Although the legislature voted to grant the New Orleans CVB $3.5 million, that's still $6.5 million short of the bureau's original request. Nor does it include an additional $750,000 the legislature granted the bureau to help the city host the Professional Convention Management Assn.'s Annual Meeting Jan. 11-14.
The bureau still must raise $1.25 million from the private sector to fund the PCMA event.
“There is a (huge) effort (that) goes into hosting a PCMA meeting, which is such a huge victory for the city,” said Kelly Schulz, vice president of communications and public relations for the New Orleans Metropolitan CVB. “The money that we had requested was really just to support what it takes to put on a first-class event like we would want to do for a PCMA audience.”
The $3.5 million granted to the bureau will be used, according to CVB President and CEO J. Stephen Perry, “to assist us in our efforts to maintain our current workforce.”
The additional money not granted was to be used for national marketing and promotional purposes, Perry added.
“We will not be able to do some of the more national things that we did over the past couple of years with another (previously received) grant,” Schulz said.
Tourism has been on a steady rise for New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, according to a report from the bureau. In 2007, New Orleans hosted 7.1 million visitors, a dramatic increase from 3.7 million in 2006. Schulz said a good year prior to the hurricane was 8.5 million visitors.
“In terms of overall meetings and convention business, ... (for 2008), we're at about 80 percent of where we would be in a pre-Katrina year,” Schulz said. “That means groups that were on the books prior to Katrina that have reconfirmed as well as new bookings that have come into the city.”
Schulz added that the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center originally had asked for an additional $8.6 million to cover the deficit it incurred by operating at a loss since the hurricane, but later withdrew the request after reviewing its budget.
“They actually had some money in their reserves,” Schulz said, “and it turned out to be better than they thought it was.”
