The New Orleans convention center was an emergency home to an estimated 25,000 people following Hurricane Katrina. The convention center was piled with garbage and personal belongings after flood victims left.
This past week brought around 24,000 convention attendees and pumped $25 million into the New Orleans economy. Considering conventions brought in $9.6 billion annually to New Orleans before Katrina there is still a lot of work to do.
The outgoing president of the American Library Association, one of the past weeks convention attendees, Michael Gorman “called his groups’ weeklong convention a ‘smashing success’ and said he was impressed by the ‘astounding warmth and gratitude of the people of New Orleans.’”
For the rest of 2006 there are 14 major meetings booked for the convention center including the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, expected to bring 25,000 and the National Association of Realtors with 25,000 people.
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