Hurricane Katrina has, quite possibly, destroyed the meeting industries of New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, at least as we've known them.
As the waters have receded and the damage is assessed, there is no doubt that there won't be any meetings activity in those areas for at least the next six months. Biloxi and Gulfport, MS, have had not only their beaches but also their hotel casinos washed away, while New Orleans will have to be literally detoxified and portions of it demolished, and then rebuilt. The big question, then, for the domestic meetings and hospitality sector is whether these destinations can ever regain the character that made them unique.
As the fifth-largest convention destination in America, New Orleans was to have more than 204,000 convention and meeting delegates come to town in September and October, representing an economic impact of roughly $44 million, according to a statement from the nearby Shreveport-Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau. Total visitor spending in New Orleans was nearly $5 billion last year.
Since the hurricane, the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau has been working to relocate meetings on this year's books to other cities. A number of destinations have agreed to host such groups, including Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, St. Louis, and San Antonio. Many of them, in fact, were already slated to host these same meeting groups in future years, so they simply offered to switch dates with New Orleans. In an open letter to the meetings and travel community, Kitty Ratcliffe, executive vice president of the New Orleans CVB, mentioned these agreements, and added: "We have had an outpouring of offers from other convention & visitor bureaus to do just that, and we are so appreciative."
Marriott International immediately began contacting planners with business on the books at its properties in late 2005 offering to relocate them to other Marriott hotels, says Bob McCarthy, executive vice president for the company. The heavily impacted Hyatt Regency New Orleans is closed through March 31 and is relocating groups as best as it can within the Hyatt chain. Hilton established a "Hurricane Group Bookings Hotline," (866) 973-8030, to do the same.
Some planners set out on their own in search of alternate venues, but in the days immediately following the hurricane, they were hitting brick walls. Las Vegas and Chicago both reported receiving many phone calls from nervous buyers looking to relocate, but were unable to accommodate many of them because of prior bookings. "It's slim pickings from a logistics standpoint," says Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.