2020 will end for the city of New York, with 66% fewer visitors and will not fully recover its pre-pandemic levels until 2025, according to the agency in charge of its tourism promotion, NYC & Company.
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In a statement with its forecasts for the 2020-2024 period, the agency noted that the Big Apple was on track to record a record, with “solid results in January, February and early March”, but the security measures imposed to stop the contagions “put almost all leisure and most of the business on hold.”
“The result has been an unparalleled drop in visits during the remaining nine months of 2020. The forecast for the end of the year of 22.9 million visitors is 66% below the levels of 2019,” said this organization public-private reporting to the New York City Council.
According to these projections, domestic tourism in the city will be reduced to a third, with 20.5 million, since regional visits “rebounded in summer”, while international tourism, with 2.4 million, is 80% lower, as trips from outside the US have been “frozen” since April.
“Due to the uncertainty generated by the pandemic regarding the economic recovery and consumer confidence in travel, the most conservative forecasts take us until 2024 to exceed the levels of 2019”
NYC & Company is aware that plans for covid vaccinations will take shape in the first quarter of 2021 to estimate an increase in regional and short-haul visits within the US “in late spring and early summer.”
“If health advances are aligned with easing restrictions on activities and meetings, the pace may be faster. The international market may take longer to recover, but could reach 2 million visitors by the end of the year,” anticipates.
The agency clarifies that perhaps the tourism sector will return to its 2019 levels in three years, especially if the restrictions on business travel that affect large events and meetings are lifted in 2022, and also due to the “strong position.”
“It is worth mentioning that international travel after September 11, 2001 took four whole years to recover,” the note concludes.
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