 New Orleans and its premier meeting venue—the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center—continues to regain its former stature as a national convention destination. The Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will return to New Orleans in 2016 and 2022.
The ACCR has held their event at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center three times, most recently in 2001. Each AACR event has an anticipated attendance of 12,800—translating into an estimated 34,600 room nights and 50 convention center hall days each year, resulting in $32,191,744 in economic impact for the New Orleans area, according to the destination.
A major reason New Orleans has a new, more enhanced appeal to the planners of future AACR events is that more than $2 billion of state and federal funding has been invested into a 2.4 square mile Greater New Orleans Biosciences Economic Development District, creating a medical and healthcare complex that will include the Louisiana Cancer Research Center (to be completed Fall 2011) the BioInnovation Center; (to be completed Spring 2011), Louisiana  Medical Center at New Orleans (construction due to start June 2010) and a new VA Medical Center (Official groundbreaking in May 2010).
“We are particularly excited with this announcement as another indicator that New Orleans is re-emerging as a magnet for major medical meetings that it once was,” said Bob Johnson, President/General Manager, Morial Convention Center. “This position will be further anchored as the multi-billion dollar Greater New Orleans Bioscience Economic Development District becomes a reality over the next few years, which includes a $90  million state-of-the-art cancer research center that is already under construction.”
The AACR is the oldest and largest scientific organization in the world focused on every aspect of high-quality, innovative cancer research. Officials with the New Orleans BioInnovation Center anticipate that this investment in infrastructure will position New Orleans as a leading knowledge center for the US and Latin America and increase its world-class bioscience research and technology development.
Johnson is quick to point out that the new facility will build on the hard work the Convention Center and the Hospitality Industry of New Orleans has accomplished in making the city attractive to healthcare professional associations. “In the last few months we have hosted eight medical related meetings attracting over 66,000 attendees,” said Johnson. “New Orleans has a history of successfully hosting medical meetings which now are attracting a larger percentage of international attendees who are particularly fond of New Orleans.”
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