After the Big Apple was hit by COVID-19, a steady stream of visitors re-check-in at New York hotels.
According to reports from The New York Post, hotel occupancy in the Big Apple reached 47% in the week of March 7-13, the highest weekly average in the city since the end of June, according to STR, a data company that tracks the hospitality industry.
New York hotel occupancy “It has been improving every week”, this was stated to the portal Nick Minerd, STR spokesperson.
Last Saturday night, that figure rose to 61.5%, a significant increase over January’s figures, which were 38%, but still well below pre-pandemic numbers
For its part, the city’s tourist office, NYC & Company, reported that it expects to recover more than half of the visitors to the city this year compared to 2019. A very feasible scenario since the hotel occupancy last weekend it was the “best” the Big Apple has had in almost a year.
According to data from the NYC & Company, 66.6 million tourists visited the city in 2019, a number that plummeted in 2020 to 22.3 million as a result of the pandemic.
Now in 2021, an increase of 36.4 million visitors is expected.
Read here: Travelers arriving in New York will not need to quarantine
Visitors also return to Times Square
Times Square, once one of the world’s greatest tourist attractions, is slowly rising from the darkness in which it was plunged by the pandemic.
Since September, foot traffic in Times Square has been “hovering” around 100,000 people a daysaid Tom Harris, acting president and chief operating officer of the Times Square Alliance.
Harris attributed the 15% increase in foot traffic to “A combination of things: more pleasant weather, more shots of the coronavirus vaccine, and a relaxation of some of the COVID-19 safety restrictions.”
Although this number indicates a decrease in 65% compared to the area’s bustling days before COVID-19, This is a huge improvement, as in times of pandemic, only 35,000 people a day were counted by electronic meters embedded in the district’s urban landscape.
Harris predicted that as more coronavirus restrictions are lifted in the Big Apple and more people get vaccinated against COVID-19, “that will bring more visitors to New York City. “
Broadway theaters, which closed for the first time on March 12, 2020 as a precautionary measure to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, also hope to be part of the Big Apple landscape again.
A year later some theaters, including those of Broadway y off-Broadway, will be able to reopen their doors within the framework of NY PopsUp, a city-wide festival that encourages people to get out and explore the arts.
On March 3, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that the “Flexible rooms” They will open from April 2, as detailed by the New York Theater Guide portal.
Among the rooms that will open their doors from April 2 are The Apollo, Park Avenue Armory, St. Ann’s Warehouse, The SHED, Harlem Stage, La MaMa, National Black theatre y The Glimmerglass Festival’s Alice Busch Opera Theater.
It also recently announced that professional sports in large outdoor stadiums with capacity for 10,000 people or more may reopen at 20% capacity.
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