New Orleans has seen so much growth and change over the past several years, in industries old and new, all across our wonderful city. You might not realize how much tourism in New Orleans has to do with that growth, but once you look a little more closely, it’s easy to understand how the city functions and thrives with a big helping hand from our tourism industry.

Tourism brings in more than $6 billion in visitor spending in a year, and that money spreads throughout our city. You might be one of the people that wonders, “If I don’t work in the tourism industry, what does tourism have to do with me?”

Tourism touches the lives of every New Orleanian. From physicians to lawyers to accountants to contractors to local farmers to interior designers, tourist dollars reach every part of our city. When a New Orleans artist sells his work in the French Quarter, he uses his income to get an eye exam and new glasses; when a hotel general manager gets her paycheck, she hires a local interior designer to breathe new life into her New Orleans home; when a pedicab driver counts his fares for the day, he uses his money to buy his wife a hand-made piece of jewelry from a local jeweler – and the list goes on and the cycle continues.

Money that comes into our economy through our leading industry of tourism flows and works throughout our entire city. You might never have thought those dollars reach as far as they do, but the financial success of our city is dependant on every piece to the puzzle, and it doesn’t function without tourism.