Welcome New Orleans - Spend Like It Matters
Click here for the 2026 -2027 Edition of Welcome
PUBLISHERS’ NOTES
Every year, millions of people come to New Orleans looking for something they can’t find anywhere else:
They come for music that fills the air, food that tells stories with every bite, neighborhoods that pulsate with history, and culture bearers who make this city unlike any other place in the world.
What many visitors don’t realize is that every dollar they spend helps shape the future of the city they came to experience.
That’s the idea behind this year’s theme: Spend Like It Matters.
Because it does.
Travel is more than a transaction. It is an opportunity to make choices. Where you stay, where you eat, where you shop, which tours you take, whose art you purchase, whose businesses you support—those decisions have an impact long after your vacation ends.
In a city where culture is our greatest asset, spending intentionally helps ensure that the people and communities who create that culture can thrive.
This issue is about helping you understand the power your spending has. Throughout these pages, you’ll discover businesses, experiences, and attractions that reflect the rich diversity and authenticity of New Orleans. And you’ll find opportunities to engage with New Orleans in ways that are meaningful—not just memorable. Be ever mindful that the best travel experiences are not simply about what we take from a place. They’re also about what we leave behind.
As you explore New Orleans, we invite you to do so with curiosity, appreciation, and intention. Celebrate the culture. Support the people. Discover the neighborhoods and Invest in the experiences that make this city extraordinary.
If you are looking to truly spend like it matters, take a trip to Bayou Road, the city’s oldest thoroughfare, where Black and Indigenous history lives along side locally-owned businesses, making every purchase part of a much larger story of community, empowerment, resilience and culture.
Most of all, remember that every purchase is a choice and every choice adds to the story.
Thank you for choosing New Orleans.
And thank you for choosing to spend like it matters . . . because it does.
Dr. Dwight and Beverly S. McKenna
Publishers
Welcome Magazine