New Orleans is celebrating the resilience, innovation and grit the city needed rebuild t after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The successive two decades has seen billions of dollars of investment, new airport, hotels and attractions and a riverfront transformation. 

New Orleans went from an all-time low of 3.7 million visitors in 2006, in the aftermath of Katrina, to a record-breaking 19 million visitors in 2019.

The numbers has returned to these levels after Covid.

August 2025 saw the launch of the Amtrak Mardi Gras service line connecting New Orleans and Mobile, with stops in Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Gulfport and Pascagoula.

www.neworleans.com/amtrak

New Orleans is currently undergoing riverfront redevelopment with the Riverfront for All park and the River District.

The Riverfront for All project, led by the Audubon Nature Institute, will create a continuous 2.3-mile stretch of public park space along the Mississippi River, connecting Crescent Park to Spanish Plaza.

The $1 billion River District is a 39-acre mixed-use neighbourhood adjacent to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Centre with offices and residential areas complemented by entertainment venues, cultural centres, retail, dining and public green space.

New Orleans now uses its experiences from Katrina to help other destinations rebuild their own tourism industries after disaster, including wildfires in Hawaii; a typhoon in the Philippines; Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey, and Hurricane Helene in North Carolina

More information :

www.neworleans.com/katrina20

www.neworleans.com