How to get tourists to return? After a successful vaccination campaign against covid and a positive test rate of less than five percent, New York hopes to regain its appeal sooner than other large cities and will launch an unprecedented campaign in June to attract visitors.
Telling Americans and International Tourists “New York Wakes Up” It will cost $ 30 million, an unprecedented sum proposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio and the president of the municipal tourist agency, Fred Dixon.
Since travel is still restricted, the message in traditional media, social networks and through “influencers” will target the Americans, beginning with friends or relatives of New Yorkers, who will be called to “visit” them.
And later, if the pandemic allows it, it will spread to a global audience, Dixon explained.
“There were 400 thousand jobs linked to tourism before the pandemic, they will return“De Blasio assured in a press conference.” New York wakes up, we must tell people that we are open, that they are safe (…) It will not be done overnight, we know it, but it will be done ” .
What is at stake is considerable for a city that before the pandemic it was one of the most visited in the world, with a record 66.6 million visitors in 2019. The number of tourists fell to 22 million in 2020.
Large pre-pandemic investments must be amortizedLike the Javits Center convention center, which cost 1.2 billion dollars, or the renovation of the LaGuardia airport, which cost 8 billion dollars.
The bet is not won beforehand: business districts have been deserted for 13 months, most employees continue to work from home, depriving a vast ecosystem of restaurants of income, shops and hotels. And crime is on the rise, reminding some of the dirty and sometimes dangerous city that New York was in the 1970-80s.
Despite the beginning of the recovery of sports activities and some entertainment, Key attractions like Broadway musicals still not accessible: His return is scheduled in September, although the tourism agency did not exclude that the date is anticipated.
In those conditions, New York just expects to receive a massive number of tourists in 2023. The municipal government estimates that the largest city in the United States will reach its pre-pandemic level that year, 64.7 million visitors, and will resume its growth starting in 2024, with 69 million tourists.
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