There are still problems, of course. And there is a stigma that may take years — decades — to erase. But every day, New Orleans and the other Mid-South communities damaged by Hurricane Katrina are growing stronger.

Events big and small are starting to return. New Orleans' annual Mardi Gras is back on track, attracting a crowd of 750,000. The city hosted the 2008 NBA All-Star Game — and 50,000 attendees — as well as the Allstate BCS National Championship and the Allstate Sugar Bowl, both at the Superdome. Of even higher interest to meeting planners, a 20,000-plus person citywide convention was successfully executed.

More than two dozen meetings of more than 3,000 attendees are scheduled for New Orleans in 2008. Corporations, such as Whirlpool, have been drawn by the wealth of “voluntourism” opportunities.

In the past two years, more than $400 million has been spent on hotel renovations in the metro New Orleans area.

In Alabama, $194 million in hotel building projects have been completed or announced for Birmingham in 2008. When all projects reach completion, more than 1,300 guest rooms will be added to the downtown inventory.

Birmingham is not alone in its infrastructure improvements. In Montgomery, public and private investors have contributed $1.1 billion toward the city's “Riverfront Renaissance” project.

Facilities Update

Alabama

• A 155-room Hampton Inn is being built in downtown Mobile, with completion set for late fall.

• A new 101-room Hilton Garden Inn with a 1,204-square-foot meeting room opened in May in Mobile.

• The new Highland Conference Center in Birmingham is next to the new Hotel Highland.

• The $180 million, 347-room Montgomery Renaissance Hotel & Spa at the Montgomery Convention Center opened in February with 112,000 square feet of meeting space.

• Riverview Plaza Hotel in Mobile became Renaissance Riverview Plaza in late 2007 after a $74 million renovation. It is connected to the Mobile Convention Center via skywalks.

• Just outside Montgomery, the Marriott Pratt-0ville Hotel & Conference Center at Capitol Hill added an 8,000-square-foot ballroom in 2007.

Kentucky

• Hyatt Place Lexington is a new 127-room hotel with three meeting rooms for up to 75 people.

• The $1.7 million, 7,000 square foot, full-service spa at Marriott's Griffin Gate Resort in Lexington opened in May 2007.

Louisiana

• The multipurpose Shreveport Convention Center is attached to the 313-room Hilton Shreveport and offers more than 350,000 square feet of meeting space.

• The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans has completed $60 million in renovations.

• Louisiana's first condominium hotel, the 131-room Royal Cosmopolitan, New Orleans, will be the first new hotel project to break ground in the city since 2005. Developers are spending $50 million to renovate the 100-year-old Astor Hotel building at 121-25 Royal Street.

• The Hilton New Orleans Riverside received $66 million for improvements, revitalizing the 30-year-old Southeastern flagship of Hilton Hotels Corp. Renovations will continue through 2008.

• The Marriott New Orleans Hotel is undergoing a $38 million renovation.

• The 500-room Fairmont New Orleans will soon undergo $100 million in refurbishments.

• The 527-room Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans, features a renovated 25,000-square-foot spa; a new restaurant, Mélange; and 35,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel completed a $105 million renovation in 2006.

Tennessee

• Nashville — Music City — is in the pre-development stage for a new, approximately 1.2 million square foot convention center in downtown. The facility would have two parking garages and a hotel.

• In Nashville, a new 250-room Hotel Hutton with 21,500 square feet to house a conference center, meeting facilities, and restaurant is scheduled to open in winter 2008.

• Hotel Palomar in Nashville has a planned 200 rooms within the 70-story Signature Tower.

• Two more office conversions in Nashville will result in a 139-room Hotel Indigo and a second hotel that will be 110 rooms. Both are planned for completion in winter 2008.

• InterContinental Hotel and Resorts will bring 285 rooms, nearly 18,000 square feet of meeting space, and a 10,750-square-foot ballroom to the West End Summit project in Nashville in 2010.

• The new Memphis Marriott Downtown offers more than 7,900 square feet of renovated meeting and banquet space.

• Gatlinburg Convention Center has expanded to nearly 148,000 square feet of meeting, banquet and exhibit space.

• The 208-room Holiday Inn Pigeon Forge is adding an 8,500-square-foot conference center, bringing the property's total banquet, meeting, and conference space to 11,500 square feet.

WEST VIRGINIA

• Waterfront Event Center, a 25,000-square-foot, $22 million facility in Morgantown, is scheduled to be complete in December 2009.

• Beckley Raleigh County Convention Center is undergoing a $1.5 million upgrade with a new 4,800-square-foot conference facility.

Special Venues

• The Bottling Co. in Hattiesburg, Miss., is a music warehouse and restaurant by trade, but it is often converted into a vibrant meeting and reception space by request. This facility is in an original Coca-Cola bottling building and has indoor balconies, a large stage, and breakout rooms. www.thebottlingco.com

• With four Mississippi River cruises daily, the Tunica Queen is a classic riverboat that can hold up to 400 passengers for dinner or sightseeing cruises. It is available for private functions. www.tunicaqueen.com

• Battleship USS Alabama, on Mobile Bay, Ala., is a location for unforgettable events. The Fantail can host up to 500 people. The Wardroom provides indoor accommodations for up to 150 people. Groups of up to 1,200 can dine among historic warplanes in the 36,000-square-foot Aircraft Pavilion. www.ussalabama.com

The USS Alabama is available for special events.

Trip Tips

• The Civil Rights audio tour, available at the Montgomery Area Visitor Center, provides a self-guided walking or driving tour of Montgomery's Civil Rights sites.

• Alabama Shake-speare Festival's Shakespeare Garden features plants and flowers mentioned in The Bard's plays. It is available for receptions and events. www.blountculturalpark.org

• Elvis Presley got his start on the Louisiana Hayride, a live radio show broadcast from Shreveport's Municipal Audi-torium. Today there is a Stage of Stars Museum, which highlights Elvis and many other music legends who performed on the Hayride.

• A great addition to any itinerary in Memphis is a trip to Elvis' Graceland or a night out on Beale Street.

Ask the CVB

Alabama

Greater Birmingham CVB
(800) 458-8085
www.inbirmingham.org

Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce/CVB
(334) 261-1100
visitingmontgomery.com

Kentucky

Northern Kentucky CVB
(859) 655-4163
www.nkycvb.com

Louisiana

Baton Rouge Area CVB
(800) LA ROUGE
www.visitbatonrouge.com

New Orleans Metro. CVB
(800) 672-6124
www.neworleanscvb.com

Mississippi

Mississippi Gulf Coast CVB
(888) 467-4853
www.gulfcoast.org

Tunica CVB
(888) 4-TUNICA
www.tunicamiss.com

Tennessee

Memphis CVB
(901) 543-5300
www.memphistravel.com

Nashville CVB
(800) 657-6910
www.visitmusiccity.com

Pigeon Forge
Department of Tourism
(865 4538574
www.mypigeonforge.com

W. Virginia

Charleston CVB
(800) 733-5469
www.charlestonwv.com

Greenbrier County CVB
(800) 388-2068
www.greenbrierwv.com