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As the New Orleans economy considers re-opening, business owners, industry leaders, and government officials are asking the same question: “When will everything go back to normal?”

It’s an essential question. Open businesses won’t be open for long if customers don’t show up.

The below report attempts to answer that question. It’s based on Google Trends data (a longer explanation is below the table), around five areas of tourism. Within each, you’ll be able to compare how many Americans are searching for those terms, compared to the exact same week last year. We hope that this information will be useful to the general public, and stakeholders, as they consider what’s the next best steps.

A further explanation of the data is below the reports. Have another question about Google, Search Trends, or Analytics? Contact our experts at [email protected].

ONLINE OPTIMISM HAS FINISHED TRACKING NEW ORLEANS TRENDS AS OF APRIL 2021. FOR MORE RECENT DATA, VISIT HTTPS://TRENDS.GOOGLE.COM/TRENDS/

Travel

Lodging

Food & Drink

Activities

Events

Highlighted Insights from the Week of March 1st, 2021

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for Airport Parking New Orleans see huge increases in search popularity in recent weeks.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” is up 126% compared to last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for Carousel Bar is only down by 5% compared to last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for all activity based keywords are down compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Popularity for event related search terms continue to remain low.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for Car Rental New Orleans is up a massive 727% compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for all lodging keywords except “Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” are up YoY.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for Yelp New Orleans remains at its lowest point despite restaurants opening back up.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
For the first time, all activity search terms are up over 100% compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Popularity for Festivals New Orleans is up compared to last year as some festivals have announced returns at the end of the year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for all travel search terms are lower than last year despite Mardi Gras approaching.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” is up 20% compared to last year as people begin booking lodging for Mardi Gras.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for Yelp New Orleans sees increases despite tough regulations on restaurant capacity.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for New Orleans Zoo is only down 20% compared to last year..

This Week’s Events Insight:
Popularity for event related search terms continue to see huge decreases despite the announcement of some major festivals toward the end of 2021.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Flights to New Orleans” remained consistently low post-COVID as people researched other forms of travel.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” saw some peaks above popularity for the previous year as people sought alternative lodging options.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Since COVID search popularity for “Restaurants New Orleans” have not exceeded popularity of 2019.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Between August and November search popularity for “New Orleans Zoo” remained consistent with popularity from 2019.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Popularity for event related search terms have suffered the most post-COVID.

This Month’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Bus to New Orleans” and “Driving to New Orleans” continue to increase from last week. Other travel search terms continue to see a decrease in search volume.

This Month’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for all lodging terms is below last year. Search volume for “Bed and Breakfast New Orleans” began to increase this week while other search terms fluctuated and decreased.

This Month’s Food & Drink Insight:
All Food & Drink terms a continuing to see a decrease in search popularity, in comparison to last year. However, search volume for “Yelp New Orleans” and “Bars New Orleans” are nearing traditional volumes this week.

This Month’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for all activity search terms remain below last years, however search volume for “New Orleans Zoo” increased as people searched for ways to spend their time off.

This Month’s Events Insight:
All search terms remain down in comparison to last year, with nearly all event search terms seeing a decrease this week.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Flights to New Orleans” continues to increase as people make their holiday plans. Search popularity for “Airport Parking New Orleans” is nearing levels of 2019.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for all lodging terms is below last year. Bed and Breakfast New Orleans and Where to Stay in New Orleans are down 100% with zero searches in the past week.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for all Food & Drink terms saw huge increase this time last year but we still have yet to see the same trend this year. However, search popularity for “Bars New Orleans” is nearing that of last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for all activity search terms remain below last years, however searches for WW2 Museum New Orleans are picking back up.

This Week’s Events Insight:
All search terms remain down in comparison to last year, however, this week Events New Orleans seems to be picking up a bit.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Driving to New Orleans” and “Airport Parking New Orleans” continue to increase as people make their holiday plans, while flight searches stagnate.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for all lodging terms are below last year. “Bed and Breakfast New Orleans” and “Where to Stay in New Orleans” continue to trend down.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for all Food & Drink terms saw huge increase this time last year but we still have yet to see the same trend this year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for all activity search terms remain below last years.

This Week’s Events Insight:
All search terms remain down in comparison to last year. Search popularity for “Concerts New Orleans” have reached zero.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Driving to New Orleans” is up almost 100% compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” is only down 3% compared to last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for Bars New Orleans almost reaches the same popularity of last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for WW2 Museum New Orleans exceed search popularity from last year by over 50%.

This Week’s Events Insight:
While search popularity for most search terms sees a slight uptick compared to last week, all search terms are still down compared to last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for all “Flights to New Orleans” has remained consistently low post-COVID.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” is only down 3% compared to last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Yelp New Orleans” sees increases but is still not above search popularity of last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “New Orleans Zoo” is up 8% compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Searches for “Events New Orleans” is almost 100% down compared to last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Driving to New Orleans” sees slight increases this week but still remains 26% lower than last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
The latest COVID restrictions have caused lodging search terms to see huge decreases this week compared to recent weeks.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
As COVID restrictions tighten, search popularity for Food & Drink search terms see some major decreases.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Despite further restrictions being implemented, WW2 Museum New Orleans is up 17% compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Searches for “Concerts New Orleans” are down 100% compared to last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for all “Bus to New Orleans” sees a huge dip in search popularity, falling over 90% below search popularity of last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Where to Stay in New Orleans” continues to increase and almost reaches the same search popularity as last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Carousel Bar is only down 11% in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “New Orleans Tours” decrease drastically in recent weeks.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Searches for “Concerts New Orleans” sees the largest decline in search popularity out of all the events based keywords.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for all travel keywords are down this year compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Where to Stay in New Orleans” increases this week and comes in at only 17% lower than last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Both Commanders Palace and Carousel Bar see decreases in search popularity this week.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “WW2 Museum New Orleans” is only down 7% compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Searches for “Festivals New Orleans” is at half the popularity of last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Driving to New Orleans” sees huge increases compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Where to Stay in New Orleans” sees huge decreases this week.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Bars New Orleans” sees major increase in the last few weeks.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “French quarter New Orleans” sees a slow but steady incline in popularity over the past few months.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Search popularity for event search terms dip more than 60% below last years search popularity.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Bus to New Orleans” is only down 12% compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “French Quarter Hotel” sees steady increase in search popularity for several weeks.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Carousel Bar New Orleans” drops drastically in the past few weeks.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “New Orleans Zoo” actually exceeds search popularity from last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Search popularity for event search terms dip more than 50% below last years search popularity.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Driving to New Orleans” is up 17% compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for all lodging search terms are down compared to last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Carousel Bar New Orleans” continues to increase as bars are now able to serve drinks

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “WW2 Museum New Orleans” sees huge increase this week compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
“Festivals New Orleans” sees a steep increase in search popularity as New Orleans continues through phase 3.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Driving to New Orleans” is only down 11% compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Bed and Breakfast New Orleans” sees a steep increase in search popularity in recent weeks.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Yelp New Orleans” is down 80% compared to last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “French Quarter New Orleans” continues to gradually increase in recent weeks.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Event search terms remain consistently low despite New Orleans entering phase 3.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Airport Parking New Orleans” is up 33% compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for French Quarter Hotel is only down 19% compared to last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Bars New Orleans” continues to increase as to-go drinks are now permitted in the city.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “WW2 Museum New Orleans” sees significant decreases this week.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Event search terms remain consistently low despite New Orleans entering phase 3.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Flights to New Orleans” remains consistently low for many weeks.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for all lodging keywords remain up to 70% lower than last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Bars New Orleans” increases this week as bars are now able to provide to-go drinks.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “WW2 Museum New Orleans” more than doubles compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
“New Orleans Calendar” increase in search popularity over the last couple of weeks.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Car Rental New Orleans” is up 2% in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” increases this week

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Bars New Orleans” continues to decrease in recent weeks.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “New Orleans Zoo’ is just 27% lower than last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
“Events New Orleans” sees a sharp decrease in search popularity.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Airport Parking New Orleans” is up 89% in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for “Where to Stay New Orleans” matches the same search popularity as last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Bars New Orleans” almost reaches the same search popularity of last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “New Orleans Zoo’ continues to increase with search popularity being over 24% higher than last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
“New Orleans Calendar” search popularity increases in recent weeks.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Airport Parking New Orleans” is only down 12% in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” is down just 28% in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Carousel Bar New Orleans” sees major drop off in recent weeks.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “New Orleans Zoo’ is actually up 10% compared with last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Events New Orleans sees a slight uptick in search popularity this week.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Flights to New Orleans” maintains consistently low search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Search popularity for hotels and bed & breakfast continue to decline steeply.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Carousel Bar New Orleans” continues to increase in recent weeks.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
“New Orleans Tours” continues to dwindle in search popularity in the last few weeks.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Search popularity for “Festivals New Orleans” is down a massive 90% compared to last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Airport Parking New Orleans” is up 34% in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Hotels New Orleans” continues to see increases in search popularity.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Restaurants New Orleans” continues to decrease in the past few weeks.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
New Orleans Zoo continues to increase in search popularity to where it’s now just 6% lower in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
All event related search terms remain at least 60% lower in search popularity this year compared to last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Car Rental New Orleans” is only down 14% in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Hotels New Orleans” and “Airbnb New Orleans” remain consistent in search popularity over the past few weeks.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Yelp New Orleans” sees steep increases in the last few weeks.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “New Orleans Zoo” is only down 12% compared to last year.

This Week’s Events Insight:
All event related search terms remain at least 75% lower in search popularity this year compared to last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Car Rental New Orleans” and “Driving to New Orleans” have seen steep increases in search popularity in the last couple of weeks.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Hotels New Orleans” has shown a gradual decrease in search popularity over the last few weeks.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Despite further restrictions on bars, search popularity for “Bars New Orleans” is only down 28% from last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “French Quarter New Orleans” shows slow yet continual increase in search popularity in the last couple of weeks.

This Week’s Events Insight:
All event related search terms remain at least 50% lower in search popularity this year compared to last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Bus to New Orleans” continues to decrease each week.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Where to Stay in New Orleans” sees an increase of 44% in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for Commander’s Palace is only down 21% on last year.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “WW2 Museum New Orleans” is only 38% lower than last years.

This Week’s Events Insight:
No significant increases in search popularity as major events remain cancelled.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Driving to New Orleans” only has a 2% decrease in search popularity compared to last year.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Where to Stay in New Orleans” continues to decrease in search popularity.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity for “Bars New Orleans” is higher than last year despite new rules for bars to close and to-go drinks being banned.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
“Bourbon Street New Orleans” sees a continual decline in search popularity as bars are forced to close again.

This Week’s Events Insight:
No significant increases in search popularity as major events remain cancelled.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Car Rental New Orleans” is up over 30% in search popularity compared to last year. As the safest mode of transport during COVID, many people may opt to drive over flying.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
All searches surrounding lodging are trending downwards this week as stricter COVID guidelines have been reintroduced.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Search popularity around “Commander’s Palace” continues to trend downwards as the restaurant is for to-go orders only.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
As the Zoo reopens, search popularity for “New Orleans Zoo’ exceeds last years search popularity.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Search around the Convention Center remain over 90% below the search popularity of last year.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Flights to New Orleans” continues to trend downward for the fourth week in a row, as Coronavirus cases spike throughout the country.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
Hotel-related searches remain 60% down year over year.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
Despite being nearly the same search volume last week as the previous year, “Bars New Orleans” searches were down 23% last week – and that was before the mask mandate kicked in.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
All tourist attraction searches we monitor remain down between 40-75% year over year, compared to 2019’s Summer months.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Searches around events and festivals in New Orleans remain down 80-90%.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Car Rental New Orleans” has a higher search popularity than last year suggesting that people may be interested in using a car as their mode of transport in and out of state.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Where to Stay in New Orleans” sees search popularity just 19% below last years.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
“Bars New Orleans” almost reaches the same search popularity as last years as bars in New Orleans continue to open.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
Search popularity for “WW2 Museum New Orleans is only 30% lower than last year as the museum opens at limited capacity.

This Week’s Events Insight:
“Concerts New Orleans” shows minimal search popularity this week as major events remained cancelled.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
“Car Rental New Orleans” has continually increased in search popularity since phase 2 of reopening began.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Bed and Breakfast New Orleans” sees a huge increase in search popularity in recent weeks which may indicate that people are interested in attending bed and breakfasts over hotels at this time.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
“Bars New Orleans” search popularity is only 17% lower this year compared to 2020 as more bars continue to open.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
“Bourbon Street New Orleans” continues to increase in search popularity as bars begin to reopen.

This Week’s Events Insight:
Not much has changed in search popularity for events week on week as major events continue to stay cancelled.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
While a number of flights are still cancelled, search popularity for more socially distanced ways to travel like “Driving to New Orleans” is on the up.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“French Quarter Hotel” and “Hotels in New Orleans” see a steady increase in search popularity as hotels increase in capacity.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
As more restaurants deem it safe to reopen, we see an increase in search popularity for “Restaurants New Orleans”.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
As bars on Bourbon Street continue to open, we see an increase in search popularity for “Bourbon Street New Orleans”.

This Week’s Events Insight:
With most large events still cancelled, search popularity for events related keywords remain low.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “Driving to New Orleans” continues to increase as people search for more socially distanced ways to travel.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Where to Stay New Orleans” sees huge increases in search popularity this week which may indicate that people are interested in traveling again.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
“Bars New Orleans” continues to increase in search popularity as bars open during phase 2.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
All major search terms regarding activities in New Orleans see an increase in search popularity as we enter phase 2.

This Week’s Events Insight:
“Concerts New Orleans” sees a drastic drop in search popularity this week as most major musical/theatrical events remain cancelled.

This Week’s Travel Insight:
Search popularity for “car rental New Orleans” begins to increase as it remains one of the few safer ways to travel.

This Week’s Lodging Insight:
“Bed & Breakfast New Orleans” search popularity is actually up year on year which may indicate that people are interested in more socially distant ways to stay in town.

This Week’s Food & Drink Insight:
“Restaurants New Orleans” continues to increase in search popularity as more and more restaurants begin to reopen.

This Week’s Activities Insight:
“New Orleans Zoo” sees the largest increase in search popularity week on week.

This Week’s Events Insight:
With most large events still postponed, most related search terms remain low in popularity.

About the New Orleans Tourism Barometer

We used Google Trends data to compile what we call the New Orleans Tourism Barometer. Our city heavily relies on many talented chefs, bartenders, servers, concierges, maître d’s, and everything in between to provide our guests with an exceptional hospitality experience. That’s why we decided to focus the Google Trends data we compiled to show you when and how interests surrounding tourism ebbs and flows throughout the year. As this year is especially significant given the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope this data can give you some kind of insight as to where your specific area of tourism is likely to see an uplift as states slowly begin to reopen.

What Is Google Trends Data?

Google Trends data gives you information about how frequent a search term has been entered into Google’s search bar relative to Google’s total searches. The search term will be given a value of 0-100. A value of 100 indicates the search term is at peak popularity. A value of 50 tells us that the search term is half as popular. A 0 value indicates that there likely was not enough searches to provide valid data.

All in all, as Google is most peoples’ way of searching about various topics, it is a great tool to discover trends and popularity within a wide range of categories. Google Trends can also give you data about searches done in Google Images, Google News, Google Shopping, and Youtube as well as the ability to filter the data by location.

What Is This Data Showing?

This specific data focuses on searches made within the U.S. The data also shows what the search trends were last year as well as this year. This gives you an idea of roughly what time in a “regular” year people were searching for particular things which you can then compare to this year. This graph also indicates when Louisiana’s stay at home order was enforced so you can identify where search trends began to decrease. You will also be able to see what percentage decrease in popularity each search term has seen year on year. We’ve split up search terms surrounding New Orleans tourism into 5 categories:

  • Travel — search terms people may use when deciding how to get to New Orleans.
  • Lodging — search terms people may use to research places to stay in New Orleans.
  • Food & Drink — common search terms related to the many food & drink outlets available in New Orleans.
  • Activities — search terms related to any tourist attractions or day’s out available in New Orleans.
  • Events — search terms related to the many festivals and events in New Orleans.

In each category, we have tracked 5 different common search terms and provided you with graphs that show how those search terms have trended across 2019 and from the beginning of 2020 to now. 

No data – there was either insufficient data last year or this year.