New York wants to attract tourists with a $ 30 million advertising campaign

Mayor Bill de Blasio described “NYC Reawakens” – “New York City is awakening again” – on Wednesday as the largest marketing campaign in the history of the metropolis.

“We have to let people know that we are open again,” said de Blasio to journalists. «It’s safe, come here. Join this incredible moment. Come to this city that was so heroic during this crisis. “

New York was the epicenter of the corona pandemic in the United States last spring. Images of corpses in refrigerated trucks in front of hospitals went around the world. In the meantime, the situation is slowly returning to normal: restaurants, museums and even sports stadiums are open again with limited capacity. The theaters on world-famous Broadway, on the other hand, are not expected to receive guests again until September.

The absence of guests from home and abroad hit “the city that never sleeps” hard, the tourism sector is an important branch of the economy and represents hundreds of thousands of jobs. While almost 67 million tourists came in 2019, there were only 22 million last year. Around 36 million guests are expected this year – and a return to pre-crisis levels only in 2024.

Because of the strict restrictions on entry into the USA, the 25 million euro marketing campaign “NYC Reawakens” will initially focus on the US market. At a later point in time, it will also target other countries.