The Big Easy had another big year for tourism in 2016.
New Orleans welcomed a record 10.45 million visitors last year, spending $7.41 billion, also a record high.
"This exciting achievement is a testament to our city’s unique ability to host tourists and major events like no other," said Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
The record numbers are a result of a coordinated city-wide effort by the Convention and Visitors Bureau, New Orleans Tourism and Marketing, the airport authority and local hotel trade group.
"These achievements are the result of a strategy that attracts a combination of carefully targeted convention business and leisure travelers through tactics which leverage paid media, earned public relations exposure and special events to market New Orleans to the world," New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Stephen Perry said in a release.
Signs are goog for more growth in 2017, with Louis Armstrong International Airport welcoming to new transatlantic services over the coming weeks.
British Airways begins nonstop flights to London next week and German leisure carrier Condor Airlines will fly seasonally from Frankfurt in May.
City tourism officials said they hope to attract up to 13.7 million visitors in 2018, in what will be New Orleans’ tri-centennial year.
