NEW ORLEANS-
A week of major conventions, including the big American Library Association meeting, attracted about 24,000 visitors and pumped an estimated $25 million into New Orleans' economy, which is still staggering from Hurricane Katrina, tourism officials said.
But perhaps more importantly, the ALA meeting showed convention planners from other organizations that New Orleans and its revamped convention center, which was used as a hurricane evacuation shelter, is again a capable player in the hospitality industry.
"What they gave us was an opportunity to show we had the ability to put on a major convention," Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Wednesday. The convention and related tourism businesses had become the city's chief economic driver before Katrina, pushing $9.6 billion annually into the economy and providing an estimated 126,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region. An estimated 25,000 people unexpectedly took refuge in the Convention Center following Hurricane Katrina. Conditions at the giant building were horrendous.
