New Orleans hotels' Mardi Gras occupancy rates best since COVID

By the numbers: New Orleans has about 26,000 hotel rooms downtown, and occupancy averaged about 86% between Feb. 28 and Mardi Gras, the tourism agency says.

• On Endymion Saturday, occupancy is expected to have shot up to 95%.
• That's significantly better than last year, when occupancy over the comparable five-night stretch averaged 81%.

Yes, but: In the pre-COVID days, peak hotel occupancy regularly reached 95% over Mardi Gras, The Times-Picayune reports.

Between the lines: These numbers don't include short-term rentals, which represent a significant portion of the travel market.

The big picture: The Jan. 1 terror attack on Bourbon Street shifted the narrative around New Orleans visitation as the city entered the Super Bowl and Carnival.

• Most of the conversation nationally focused on safety and whether a person could feel good about visiting the city so quickly after such a high-profile, deadly incident.

Zoom in: CBD and French Quarter hotels saw 97% occupancy over the Friday and Saturday of Super Bowl week, according to industry numbers, with an average daily rate of just under $1,000.

What's next: The official hotel numbers for Mardi Gras should be in by Friday, a New Orleans & Co. representative tells Axios New Orleans.

Go deeper: Economic impact of Mardi Gras continues growing