Now that the marquee national events like the BCS title game, the Sugar Bowl, Mardi Gras and the NBA All-Star game have all come and gone in a seven-week period, the city is counting on good, old-fashioned conventions to pick up the slack.

The recent run of big events brought much-needed tourist dollars to the Quarter and also publicity to the city’s recovery, but now that there is a gap between them and the upcoming Jazz and Heritage Festival, business owners hope they won’t hit a dry spell.

“On an average Saturday you might see 50 people,” said Arthur Harris, owner of Harris Antiques. “With one of these big events you may see 150.”

However, after a couple of lean years, the convention business seems to be rounding back into shape. This week there is a stroke conference and at least 30 groups of 3,000 or more already have their gatherings set for the city in 2008.

“Conventioneers typically spend a little more than your average tourist,” said Fred Sawyers, the general manager of the Hilton and a past president of the New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association. “There are conventions that bring 30,000 people to the city.”

And while the city is still trying to return its tourism numbers to pre-Katrina levels, the number of conventions scheduled is about 90 percent of the total from before the storm.