Nearly five years after COVID-19 brought large gatherings to a screeching halt, Louisiana’s convention sector still hasn’t fully recovered.
That’s according to economist Loren Scott’s newest Louisiana Economic Forecast, released at Business Report’s 2025 Louisiana Business Symposium last week.
The New Orleans metro—the state’s largest convention market—had regained just 79% of the nearly 98,000 jobs it lost during the pandemic as of mid-2025. Its recovery has been “held back mainly by a convention sector that still remains below pre-COVID levels,” Scott notes.
The below table tracking convention activity in New Orleans shows total bookings still running below 2019 numbers through 2025. While cancellations and virtual events have declined since 2021, in-person attendance has yet to return to pre-pandemic volumes.
That slow rebound continues to weigh on hospitality employment in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, where hotels, restaurants and event businesses rely heavily on large conventions. Scott writes that the lingering slump is a “major reason the Louisiana economy has not fully recovered from the COVID shutdown,” as the New Orleans metro’s convention slowdown is offsetting gains in industrial construction and port activity.
Scott projects the New Orleans metro will add about 11,400 jobs over 2026-27, driven largely by industrial and nonindustrial construction projects. But he says the MSA’s full return to pre-pandemic strength hinges on conventions and tourism returning to form. New Orleans’ Morial Convention Center is the sixth-largest convention center in the nation.
It’s worth noting that efforts are underway to boost Baton Rouge’s competitiveness when it comes to conventions.
At the center of it all is the proposed redevelopment of the Raising Cane’s River Center. The plan is to redevelop the complex to cater primarily to conventions and construct an adjacent headquarters hotel. Officials say Baton Rouge is one of the largest cities in the country to lack a full-fledged convention center, and that the project will likely be completed by 2031 or 2032.
