Before the pandemic, on a normal day you could hardly walk in Times Square because of the number of tourists.
Now the reality is different … empty streets and businesses and many lost jobs.
“Global tourism has been hit hard by the issue of the COVID 19 pandemic. Obviously New York has been a city that has not escaped this reality. Many of the jobs obviously suffered, ”said Adriana Aristizábal, representative for NYC & Company.
Is that the hotel, restaurant, transportation, entertainment industries, among others, have lost thousands of jobs due to lack of customers.
So the city has taken on the task of creating a plan to attract visitors from other states as more people are vaccinated.
The city intends to invest about $ 30 million to attract domestic travelers who account for 80 percent of tourism.
“Inviting them to come to New York City and obviously this is also a shorthand for international tourism to begin to tell international tourists what it is and what the attractions or what are those things that they will be able to find in New York when international tourism reopens its doors ”, added Aristizábal.
With about half of New Yorkers inoculated and with precautionary measures in place, some are concerned about more people coming to the state.
“I think that not yet because the infections are still continuing, it has to be safer. Of course they are getting vaccinated but we still need it ”, said Fernando Chaca.
In 2019, the city that never sleeps attracted 66 million people, which means less space in public transportation, restaurants, places of recreation and entertainment.
“I understand that they must wait for the pandemic to go down a little more because if there are still so many infected still being vaccinated, I think not,” said María Toribio.
The announcement of this plan comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established that vaccinated people can travel domestically without having to self-quarantine.
It is estimated that with the advertising campaign “The awakening of New York” some 400 thousand jobs will be recovered.
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