19.08M
visitors came to New Orleans in 2024
That was a 6.4% increase from 17.93 million visitors in 2023, and the city’s second-highest annual total on record.
Source: New Orleans & Company, 2024 Visitor Profile Summary, published June 13, 2025 ↗01Gumbo YaYa Tours reference
New Orleans Tourism Statistics: 2024 Visitor Data
A clear, sourced snapshot of the people, spending, stays, and arrivals that shaped travel to New Orleans in 2024.
Last reviewed: October 27, 2026. All figures below refer to 2024 unless noted.
A city built on welcome
The numbers behind a city worth lingering in.
New Orleans is experienced in neighborhoods, songs, meals, and conversations, but those moments are also part of a large visitor economy. This page gathers the latest citywide figures available from primary local sources in one place, with enough context to use them responsibly.
For travelers, writers, and hospitality professionals, the numbers show a city whose visitors are returning, staying, and spending at levels that matter well beyond the French Quarter.
$10.4B
in visitor spending in New Orleans in 2024
Visitor spending rose 8.4% from $9.6 billion in 2023 and exceeded the city’s 2019 pre-pandemic high.
Source: New Orleans & Company, 2024 Visitor Profile Summary, published June 13, 2025 ↗02+6.4%
growth in New Orleans hotel bookings in 2024
Hotel bookings grew at the same reported rate as the city’s visitor count compared with the previous year.
Source: New Orleans & Company, 2024 Visitor Profile Summary, published June 13, 2025 ↗0313.12M
passengers moved through MSY in 2024
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport recorded 13,115,013 total passengers, up 2.92% from 2023.
Source: Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, 2024 audited financial report, June 27, 2025 ↗04108,882
air-carrier operations at MSY in 2024
The airport also reported 145 daily departures, 71 destinations, and 23,086 average daily seats for the year.
Source: Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, 2024 audited financial report, June 27, 2025 ↗05$2B+
in annual direct spending from meetings and conventions
New Orleans & Company reports that convention attendees typically stay longer, spend more, and engage more small businesses during their visits.
Source: New Orleans & Company, 2024 Visitor Profile Summary, published June 13, 2025 ↗0644.5M
domestic and international visitors to Louisiana in 2024
The Louisiana Office of Tourism also reported $18.5 billion in statewide visitor spending and $2 billion in state and local tax revenue from travel and tourism activities.
Source: Louisiana Office of Tourism, 2024 Louisiana Tourism By The Numbers ↗07What the figures show
Recovery became momentum.
In 2024, New Orleans surpassed 19 million visitors for the first time since the pandemic and came within reach of its 2019 visitor peak. Visitor spending passed the city’s 2019 level, while airport activity and hotel bookings also rose from the prior year.
Those figures describe scale, not a single kind of visitor. New Orleans welcomes people drawn by music, food, heritage, conventions, celebrations, and the particular pleasure of finding a city through someone who knows it well.
Explore with a local guide →Methodology and sources
How to read this page.
Each statistic is drawn from a named primary local source and links directly to that source. City visitor and spending figures come from New Orleans & Company’s commissioned 2024 Visitor Profile Summary. Airport figures come from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport’s audited 2024 report. Statewide figures come from the Louisiana Office of Tourism.
Figures are presented as reported by their source. Visitor counts, passenger totals, and spending measure different things, so they should not be added together or treated as interchangeable.
Cite this page
Gumbo YaYa Tours. “New Orleans Tourism Statistics: 2024 Visitor Data.” Last reviewed October 27, 2026. https://gumboyayatours.com/new-orleans-tourism-statistics
New Orleans & Company visitor profile ↗MSY 2024 audited report ↗Louisiana tourism research ↗