NEW ORLEANS—The New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau has hired New Orleans-based public relations and marketing firm Deveney Communication as its agency of record for 2013. Weber Shandwick had held the contract for the past six years, having been selected in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans CVB said the Bureau was “grateful to Weber Shandwick for its outstanding efforts to restore the image and reputation of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. They were a model agency and the quality and devotion they brought to their work for New Orleans will never be forgotten.”

Deveney Communication will draw on the resources of partner firms in the Worldcom Public Relations Group—including travel specialist M Silver Associates in New York—to create aggressive strategies to meet the CVB’s goal of attracting 13.7 million visitors by 2018. The agency will also serve as an extension of the marketing team at New Orleans CVB with a goal of creating value for CVB members, jobs for the region and benefits for citizens.