Austin and New Orleans Festivals Drive Hotel Stays and Local Tourism Spending

Published by Austin · Austin · 25 days ago

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Austin’s autumn tourism calendar extends beyond Austin City Limits Music Festival, which ran at Zilker Park on October 2–4 and 9–11, 2026. The Austin Film Festival is scheduled for October 29 to November 5, followed by the Austin Food & Wine Festival on November 6–8. The events bring opportunities for spending at hotels, restaurants and other businesses. Their close dates alone cannot establish whether visitors stay longer or attend more than one event. Austin welcomed 30 million visitors in 2024, generating an estimated $11.1 billion in economic impact from visitor spending. The city’s hospitality and tourism industry supported 148,000 jobs. The 2025 Austin City Limits Music Festival drew approximately 75,000 attendees a day across six days and generated a reported $557.8 million in economic impact. New Orleans takes a different approach to autumn tourism, with music and food events spread across venues and neighborhoods rather than centered on one major festival. The city recorded 19.46 million visitors and $10.8 billion in visitor spending in 2025. A direct comparison with Austin’s figures is limited by the different years and measures: economic impact and visitor spending are distinct metrics. Austin City Limits’ reported impact indicates activity beyond the festival grounds, though the figures do not establish how much spending was additional or retained by local businesses. Its 2025 impact included $118.8 million for food and beverage and $87.4 million for hotels.