6:00 a.m., Monday, September 8, 2008 

(Updates posted twice daily or more frequently if major news warrants)

It's great to be back at work in our offices at the CVB this morning, and our entire staff is excited to be back at our desks once again. Our employees were honored to work full-time through the storm with customers, clients and media, ensuring an endless flow of current accurate information.

The city of New Orleans and the metropolitan area continues to move forward wonderfully in its post-Gustav race to re-open. Who would have ever thought that New Orleans' fabulous hospitality and cultural industry would have brought the magic back to our fabled city  by today?!!  Residents from across the metropolitan area, including surrounding parishes, have returned to their homes and businesses and put the beat back in the Crescent City!

Hotels and restaurants rapidly re-opened throughout the downtown tourism corridor. Most attractions, the airport and air service, hotels, and restaurants have re-opened and the remainder will be fully open early this week.
Scores of top New Orleans restaurants enjoyed a busy weekend influx of visitors and our food fanatic locals, happy to enjoy our world class cuisine.


NOTHING BUT GOOD NEWS

RESTAURANTS SIZZLING

As our team walks (and we have to admit, plays a bit) around the French Quarter, Warehouse and Arts District, CBD, Fulton Street, the downtown and Magazine Street, we see that the city looks amazing in the tourist corridor. Musicians are playing in the many great clubs the city is legendary for, chefs are cooking in the grand kitchens and neighborhood eateries throughout the city. More and more businesses that are the heart of New Orleans are back in business. Galatoire's was packed at every table for its iconic Friday lunch, John Besh, and Emeril's team, the restaurants of Dickie Brennan, Ralph Brennan, Ti and Lally, the classic neighborhood eateries and scores of the French Quarter's, Magazine Street and Warehouse District's most famous places fired up the chef's pans and were sizzling Friday night.

HOTELS
New Orleans hotels suffered only very superficial damage from the storm. As we continue to monitor reopenings we encourage you to check with your individual hotel for its status prior to coming. Some hotels have opened their reservation systems already, but most will open for new reservations as of this morning. Business this coming week and the weekend of the 12th to 14th for leisure visitors and meetings and conventions will be completely unaffected, although we are monitoring the path of Ike.

CONVENTION CENTER
There is no disruption in meetings and conventions scheduled over the next two weeks nor to special events. The Convention Center suffered only minor damage such as a few window breaks and all repairs are expected to be accomplished in the next few hours. There is no mid-range or long-term impact of any kind. The building looks terrific.

AIRPORT
The Louis Armstrong International Airport is open. Air travelers should be advised that concessions and food and beverage services may be slightly reduced until early in the week as residents of the metro area who manage and work in those outlets return home.

ATTRACTIONS
The Audubon Nature Institute announced the reopening of the Aquarium of the Americas and the IMAX Theatre on Saturday with a special admission fee of $5. The world famous Audubon Zoo sustained very little damage. All animals are safe and the Zoo and internationally attention grabbing new Insectarium will open on Tuesday, September 9.

The Natchez is rolling on the Mississippi River and the carriages are lined along historic Decatur Street to lead you on a historic ride through the French Quarter. Shops and boutiques are bustling along Magazine Street through the city's uptown corridor, with sidewalk cafes, restaurants and coffee shops filled with patrons enjoying the this great six-mile corridor.

HARRAH'S
The Harrah's Casino reopened Saturday evening launched by a traditional New Orleans Second Line Parade. Time to come out and play! Good luck is abundant in the Big Easy.

SUPERDOME
The New Orleans Saints and the Louisiana Superdome was the scene for the exciting Saints victory over the Tampa Bay Bucanneers on Sunday. It was a thrilling afternoon in the Dome, and hopefully the first of many Saints victories this season.

STREETCARS
Our streetcars are back on their historic tracks on St. Charles Avenue, after the RTA served those in need of needing special assistance throughout the city these last few days. We are so happy to see those special cars making their way along the beautiful, tree-lined canopy of oak trees on the Avenue.


HORNS BACK PLAYING

Night clubs have started popping as well. The Quarter was packed throughout the weekend and in and other sections of the city as well as music flowed anew.

We anticipate that over the next couple of days, New Orleans will be fully back in business with no visible change! As more residents and employees from the various sectors of the hospitality industry returned over the weekend, we expect the rapid reopening of the remainder of our hotels and restaurants.

We strongly advise, however, that anyone with plans to travel to New Orleans this coming week and weekend, whether for pleasure or business, consult with their respective hotels to check the status of each individual property. All of our meetings business is ready to go as of this morning!

SEE YOU SOON!
Thank you for checking on New Orleans! Thank you for wishing us good luck. We were fully prepared and ready. But we look forward mostly to getting back to work shortly at the one thing we love more than any other....showing off the world's best food, music, museums, attractions and art scene of America's most historic, authentic, walkable city.

Downtown Updates
Click here for info from the Downtown Development District.

WE WERE SO PREPARED.....NO ONE CAN DO IT LIKE THE CRESCENT CITY!

New Orleans is now the best prepared city in the world for a major disruptive event such as this. The federal, state and local governments, in stark contrast to the unexpected events of Katrina, coordinated seamlessly the positioning of supplies, emergency personnel, public safety officers and first responders.

The city is proud to not only be the nation’s leader in fun, food, music and major cultural and sporting events, but now to be the most sophisticated destination in the world in all levels of emergency planning, execution and visitor management.