View From Afar S1, E15: IPW 2025 | Walt Leger, President and CEO of New Orleans & Company

I’m Billie Cohen, Afar’s editorial director, and welcome to View From Afar, a podcast that spotlights the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. And in this special series, I’m coming to you live from the floor of IPW, the annual travel conference organized by the U.S. Travel Association to share the best of America with the rest of the world.

In this episode, I’m thrilled to chat with Walt Leger, the President and CEO of New Orleans & Company, the city’s DMO. From the outside, it seems like this city markets itself. I mean, who doesn’t want to go to New Orleans for the food, the music, the history, the architecture—the Mardi Gras. And in the past several months, it hosted Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl. But of course, none of that happens on its own; a lot of work and heart goes into creating the NOLA we all love.

And Walt has had a deep commitment to Louisiana and to the city for years. He attended Louisiana State University and Tulane law school, then went on to serve as a state legislator, representing parts of New Orleans in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2008 to 2020. It seems fitting that his next step was joining New Orleans & Company and stepping into the role of president and CEO in 2023.

We’re going to talk about his long-term commitment to New Orleans, what he’s learned from the challenges the city has faced, and what travelers can look forward to next.

Transcript

Billie: Welcome, Walt. It’s good to have you here.

Walt: Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be with you at Afar and here at IPW and really enjoying this amazing gathering of travel leaders and travel buyers.

Billie: So, wait let me just get this out of the way. So this is super important. Did you go to the Taylor Swift concert?

Walt: Absolutely, yes. I am the father of two daughters that are nine and seven. And we attended the concert together with their mother. And actually I’ve got a third daughter coming in October.

Billie: Oh, congratulations. And now is she going to be named Taylor?

Walt: Interestingly, it’s almost like on the one-year anniversary of Taylor Swift concert, and my seven-year-old told me the other day, she was like, I can’t believe that the new baby missed the concert. And I wanted to explain to her like we had no idea that she would exist, but you know, we’ll have to find another Taylor Swift concert.

It was unbelievable. I mean. I certainly became a Swifty over the course of the year in preparation for it and really admire the work ethic and the talent and how much goes into it. But we had a special three-day series of concerts in New Orleans in October of last year. That was just unbelievable. Really, really awesome.

Billie: So Taylor Swift, Super Bowl, obviously Mardi Gras. There’s a lot of events that New Orleans has hosted and there’s a lot coming up for America in general. Did you top out, like where do you go from here? What are you excited about for 25 and 26 and beyond?

Walt: Well, you know, we are still sort of almost celebrating how great that six-month run was. We felt that there was no place in the world that could host iconic events of the size and scope of the Eras tour, the Super Bowl, and Mardi Gras, back to back to back like that.

And, a few things happened in between that were really challenging, and I guess we’ll maybe get into some of that too. But it was a huge demonstration of the power of travel and how it impacts our community. You know, it really rallies people, it brings people together to do big things. It excites the community, and the events were so different, but yet so massive and powerful. They impacted different businesses and different people, different parts of the community in different ways.

So it was a really great time, and it really shows, I think what we talk about a lot is that New Orleans is built to host.

Billie: When you say built to host, do you also think about on the person to person level and how do you open the city so that visitors who are coming feel like they can meet people on the ground and have those kinds of cultural and meaningful interactions that we think about as really making up travel?

Walt: Yeah, so built to host for us definitely focuses on the people, and so the infrastructure matters, you know, don’t get me wrong. I mean, you’ve gotta have incredible facilities like our convention center, like the Superdome. We’re really proud of the fact that in our city there’s a two-mile triangle where you can walk between the French Quarter, the convention center, and the Superdome, and you’ve got 26,000 hotel rooms in that triangle.

And so it makes it a real campus-like feel, and also allows people to connect to people. But you can have the best infrastructure in the world, if you don’t have the incredible professionals that make up the industry that are able to produce events like this, then none of that really matters.

It takes really specialized skill, professionalism, innovation, and creativity to go along with the like, precise professional execution on details. You think about Mardi Gras, it’s a massive undertaking that takes over the city and a million people are there celebrating at one time, and our public safety officials are as good as anybody or better at crowd control and at, you know, helping people to move from one place to the next while also celebrating.

And Super Bowl and Taylor Swift had a lot of those elements as well, but they were all very different. So the people make us built to host as well. And I think the people in our community, whether you’re directly in the hospitality industry or not, take a lot of pride in hosting these events. It’s very common to see people engaging with visitors. And, you know, if you ask somebody that’s a New Orleanian, like, how do I get to the Superdome? Well, you’re not only going to get an answer on that, you’re going to get on your way, ‘you need to stop and grab a sandwich at such and such or a po’ boy over there, or please don’t miss that bar. They’ve got a great cocktail.’

You know, there’s, there’s a real sense of sharing that is a big part of what it’s all about and sharing the culture and that enriches the community in a way that’s beyond financial. And is uplifting. And we, I think, thrive on the concept that people recognize we’re a unique city. That there aren’t a lot of places like New Orleans that the feel and the vibe is different there. And sharing that’s really special.

Billie: Explain the vibe of New Orleans. How do you put it?

Walt: Well, there’s music sort of like just coming up from everywhere at all times.

And you can kind of take that for granted, like you’ll hear it on the street corner, but you’ll hear it sort of played and coming out of the bars and clubs, out of the restaurants. It’s a big part of brunches and other things. You know, like we invented the jazz brunch where you’ve got music, and sort of celebration at the core of everything. And so there’s definitely a little bit of a bounce in your step as you move around. And I think what I admire a lot about the people of our city is that long before people were talking about work-life balance, we were living it. And you know, people certainly work hard and do incredible things from a professional standpoint, but they’re not too busy to take a step back and enjoy an awesome meal with people that they care about, often planning the next meal while you’re eating the current meal. Like, well, where are we going to have dinner?

But there’s something magical about the things that make New Orleans magical that are really human and about human connection. I mean, music and food are two things that we’re known for and that we excel at. And they’re also the kind of things that bring people together in community in a really fulfilling way. And so I tell people a lot, I don’t think that people necessarily visit New Orleans to see a specific thing. Like there’s not the Statue of Liberty. You’re not like going to see the Statue of Liberty,

You may be coming to see the World War II Museum, or you may be coming in to see some of our other incredible museums and attractions, but you’re really coming to like, feel it and experience it and sort of, fall into the comfort of walking around in a very approachable and walkable place, stumbling upon unique experiences and unique people who have unique stories to tell, and sharing that experience with them. So, I think it’s so much more about, almost living life for a couple of days, the way that people in New Orleans live life and a little bit less about like a specific attraction.

Billie: So you were a state legislator for many years and you’re talking a lot about how the people really make up the experience of New Orleans. And you have two constituencies to serve in your role now. How do you balance that? You have to get people to visit, but also keep the people happy in the places where all these visitors are coming. What’s the challenge of that?

Walt: Well, if I didn’t believe that this industry had the potential to balance that, I wouldn’t be doing this job. So I mean, I left the legislature in 2020 after serving 12 years. I was a speaker pro tem [tempore] of the House for eight, my last eight years. I worked on a lot of different policy areas across the spectrum and really enjoyed my time there.

But we have term limits and so when I was leaving—I’m a lawyer by training and by practice, and I was a private practitioner for almost 16 years. I was just coming back to practice law when I was attracted and asked to come join this organization. And the reason that I did it is because I do think that this is a such a crucial piece of our economy, but I also think that by focusing on building a stronger community, one that’s a great place to live and work and go to school and invest, that you also continue to make it a great place to visit.

And so our team leans heavily into that, and I think that we’ve earned some credibility in that regard by being focused on quality of life issues that impact people, first that live in our city, and then secondly, making it about those who visit. So we’re prioritizing things like early childhood education because we know that the workforce needs that to be able to be a part of our industry and other industries. We also know that it needs to be high quality so that the next generation has all the opportunities that they deserve to be able to succeed, and grow and build the life that they want. We work a lot on public transportation. We’ve lately taken a lot of steps forward on sustainability and how we can kind of lead.

When you think about a city of like 385,000 people, that also attracts 19 million people a year. I mean, there are times where there are as many visitors as there are residents, and you’ve got to find a balance between those things because it is our community first. But I do think that people embrace the idea that there are a lot of opportunities that get created for them because of the visitor economy.

Billie: Yeah. Yeah. Someone else we interviewed called it an ecosystem. I thought that was a really good description.

Walt: Yeah. The people refer to it a lot as a virtuous cycle of spending that helps to support the economy and the culture and keep it healthy. You know, the fact is, we must have visitors come in and help support that ecosystem. That the numbers don’t work otherwise. Or the city becomes a totally different place. That doesn’t have the same level of like richness and vibrancy that it does have. So it’s a delicate balance, but it’s an important one. And I think we’re doing it. You know, there are certainly a lot of cities around the world that are having challenges with overtourism and pushback.

I think a big challenge for us right now is short term rentals. Short term rentals, and playing such a role in the lodging economy these days it does sort of like get into neighborhoods more than like hotels typically do, and that can cause a little bit of unrest. You know, I don’t think that there are a lot of neighbors who are thrilled with people rolling, you know, luggage down the street into the house next door and that, that is now really kind of a hotel.

Walt: So we’ve got some things that other cities are struggling with on that front as well, and those are real quality of life issues. I mean, people expect that their kids can jump on their bike and, and ride around the neighborhood and they know their neighbors and they know their community. And when there’s a new neighbor every day, because your house, the house next door is a short term rental, that changes things and it changes the way people view visitors, frankly.

Billie: Yeah. Are there any rules or laws on the books yet about that?

Walt: Plenty of laws on the books, a lot of enforcement challenges. I saw Barcelona the other day phase out short-term rentals and there are great cities around the country that are phasing out short-term rentals. And I think there’s a place for them in the ecosystem. But I think regulation’s key, and I think it’s incumbent on the short term rental providers to engage in that regulation, help to self-regulate.

Billie: You talked about how important it is to bring visitors in. Are you finding any challenges with that?

Walt: Our 2024 numbers just came in and for only the second time in our city’s history, we eclipsed 19 million visitors. So 2019 was our highest year ever. We had 19.75 million visitors. In ‘24 we had 19.1 million, so we’re a little bit off on that, but we had never been over 19 million in any other year except for those two now.

You know, 25 is a different year. We’ve had a lot of success in the early part of the year. But we’ll see how that ends up. I think we’re experiencing some of the similar things that others are seeing in general, little bit of uncertainty in the economy. And so travel gets impacted a little bit by that. International travel is a little bit off with some of the sentiment out there, and some of the visa delays and, and other things that we’ve been working on at U.S. Travel to address for a while. And hopefully we’re going to continue to get there, but we’re really, we’re in a good place, and we’re booking conventions and meetings into the 2040s at this point. And so a lot of interest in the city, and that’s not slowing down at all.

Billie: That’s great. I’m glad to hear it. Obviously you’ve had a lot of big hits in the past six months, but you started out the year with a big challenge on the first day of the year—terrorist attack on Bourbon Street.

Walt: First few hours of the year—

Billie: First few hours of the year. So let’s start with, what might be on people’s mind? What is that area like now? What is New Orleans like now? Is it safe? Is it thriving in that area? What do you want travelers to know?

Walt: One, we certainly continue to mourn the loss of life. It was a horrific attack by a single person that was intent on, I guess, destroying the joy that people were experiencing. And it really frustrates and upsets and infuriates me that somebody somewhere thought, where can I go where people will be experiencing intense joy and celebrating a new year, and how can I take that away from them and cause terror and sadness and, you know, they chose New Orleans on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day of this year to do that.

And you know, what we’ve done a lot of is reflection. One, incredibly safe. Our city’s actually safer today than it’s been in a very long time. From a public safety standpoint, our law enforcement community had already been doing some extraordinary work on really turning the tide on that whole national trend of an uptick in violent crime.

We’re down like 70 percent in violent crime at record low levels, on all major violent crime categories. And so that’s a tremendous benefit. Certainly we’ve had additional resources, that have come to bear from the state and the federal government in response to the terror attack, that have helped. And so, you know, Bourbon Street and the French Quarter are safer than they’ve ever been. Visitors are safer than they’ve ever been. Residents are safer than they’ve ever been. The data is just very clear on that. So we’re fortunate that that has been part of the outcome.

Two, we’ve been really intent on saying, you know, when you bring almost 20 million visitors to town regularly, year after year, have done so for decades, 95 percent of those people spend time in the French Quarter when they come to the city. You’re really talking about hundreds of millions of people who have safely enjoyed Bourbon Street year in, year out, day in and day out. And we don’t want one act of one terrorist on one day to deter that joy. And I think for the most part, people have said, we’re not going to let that happen. Our visitors, our residents. And so the response has been very defiant. Like, we’re not going to allow that to change the joy that we experience in this place.

Billie: Right. And double down—

Walt: Double down on it in a very American way.

Billie: Yeah. Right.

Walt: We’re not going to let some terrorist come after us like that. And you saw that response really quickly. I mean, we had the Sugar Bowl, the college football playoffs on New Year’s Day, and we had to delay that by a day because of the attack. But people very aggressively showed up that next day. Had a major event, did it without any, you know, any challenges, any issues, did it very successfully.

We quickly moved into a National Auto Dealers convention, which is one of our biggest and longest-standing customers, just a couple of days later in late January, and then the Super Bowl just a couple of weeks after that. And with those things, momentum just kept building. And then of course to get through Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest, which has 900,000 people in the French Quarter, all of which without a real hiccup, is a real testament to the fortitude of the community.

So it was really, it was a rallying cry in a lot of ways. You know, like for a very long time we’ve said that we recognize how special the French Quarter is. It’s historically significant. It is a neighborhood, first and foremost where people live. It is an entertainment zone. It is an attraction in and of itself, a unique special place. And clearly when someone targets a place for a terrorist attack, they’re doing that because that place holds a special place in the hearts and minds and imaginations of people, not just in our community, but around the world.

And so I think it almost reinforced how special that it really is. And makes us want to preserve it and protect it and, and keep it available for residents and for visitors into the future.

Billie: Well, I’m glad that the city and the people are finding the joy and their resilience. That’s always really wonderful to see. But we’ve talked about, obviously, French Quarter and a bunch of the other big, big draws of New Orleans. What are some of the off-the-beaten-path or up and coming neighborhoods that you also want people to explore and where else can they find that joy?

Walt: I mean, the Mid-City neighborhood is one that’s been designated as one of the most unique neighborhoods in the world. Also happens to be the home of City Park. And City Park to me is not off the beaten path so much as sort of like unappreciated by visitors. It’s a large urban park in the middle of the city, about 15 minutes from downtown. In the French Quarter, you can actually get on a streetcar and ride to it. And it’s bigger than Central Park. And it’s also the home of the New Orleans Museum of Art, one of the world’s greatest sculpture gardens, Louisiana Children’s Museum, a place called Storyland. There’s an amusement park for kids, multiple golf courses. We took a golf course and rewilded it. It’s a walking path and you know, hiking path now.

Just a really incredible place and very special. It’s got a Cafe du Monde in it, so you can grab your beignets there if you want.

Billie: You can’t go anywhere without a beignet.

Walt: And it’s really different, you know, like it’s a different vibe and an outdoor kind of feeling. Really, really special place that I really encourage people to get to when they’re in town.

Of course, the Garden District and Uptown and Audubon Park, similarly, really special area near Tulane University and Loyola University. Heavily residential, but like some of our greatest restaurants are up in that area. And the Audubon Zoo and, and so many other things to do up that way. The Garden District really beautiful historic home tours and walking tours. But there are just a great deal of things to do that are separate and apart from the French Quarter. People know that certainly they want to experience it, but even just near there with the, with the, uh, warehouse district and the convention center area, that’s where the National World War II Museum is. You could spend days in there. I mean, it’s phenomenal. And I think more than ever people are recognizing that the freedom earned through World War II is something worth fighting for and something worth remembering. And being focused on and they’ve taken their educational obligations really seriously and are doing a remarkable job of spreading that message of freedom and peace, and the hard earned freedom that cost so many lives in World War II and that we want to avoid in the future.

Billie: And it sounds like throughout the city and all the neighborhoods and at so many different levels, there’s so much people are honoring the history and the current stories of New Orleans.

Walt, thank you so much. It was great to have you here. Walt Leger, president and CEO of New Orleans and Company. Thanks again.

Walt: Thank you. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for joining this episode of View From Afar. In the show notes, you’ll find links to the topics we discussed, New Orleans & Company’s website and social handles, and our recent coverage of New Orleans. And be sure to follow along this week to hear more interviews with industry experts.

You can find more Views From Afar on afar.com. And be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok. We’re @AfarMedia. If you enjoyed today’s exploration, I hope you’ll come back for more great interviews. Subscribing always makes that easy. And be sure to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platforms. It helps other travelers find it.

This has been View From Afar, a production of Afar Media. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland, with assistance from Michelle Baran and Billie Cohen. Music composition from Epidemic Sound. This podcast is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Visit AirwaveMedia.com to listen and subscribe to their other fine shows like Culture Kids and The Explorers Podcast.