What’s New in New York City

THIS IS NEW YORK CITY

No city in the world can match New York City’s unparalleled energy, or the tremendous pride New Yorkers take in opening their arms to our more than 54 million annual visitors annually. There is always something fun, exciting and inviting to do here, no matter what kind of experience you prefer—a Broadway show, an outdoor movie or concert, a tour of a museum or historical attraction, cuisine from every world culture…the list goes on and on, with endless opportunities in each of the City’s five boroughs (The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island) to discover something new.

This year, New York City has a new mayor – the 109th in its history – Bill de Blasio. Mayor de Blasio was born in New York City.

TOURISM IN NEW YORK CITY

In 2013, New York City welcomed a record 54.3 million visitors, generating $39.4 billion in direct spending and $58.7 billion in total economic impact. Tourism, now the City’s fifth largest industry, employs more than 370,000 people in the hospitality and leisure sector. Currently home to more than98,000 hotel rooms (and anticipated to reach 100,000 rooms by the end of the year), New York City offers visitors more options to experience—and stay in—many of the City’s vibrant neighborhoods across all five boroughs. New York City has the highest share of overseas travel to the US, growing its share from 28 to 33 percent since 2007 (each growth in share point represents $750 million in direct spending). In addition, the City is the nation’s number one port of entry, has the highest number of international visitors and is thenumber one city destination for tourism spending. The City is on track to achieve 55 million annual visitors by2014, one full year ahead of the original 2015 timeline.

On March 14, 2014, during NYC & Company’s Annual Meeting, Fred Dixon was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to be the new President & CEO of NYC & Company. Dixon has been with the organization since 2005, and previously was the organization’s Interim President & CEO (since January 2014) and before that, its Executive Vice President, Market Development.

WHAT’S NEW: NYC & COMPANY PROGRAMS

In November 2013, NYC & Company announced the return of its Sunday Night Stays program to stimulate hotel bookings on Sundays, the day of the week that the City has room to create more demand. As part of the new program, NYC & Company is highlighting Sunday activity including the availability of Broadway and Off-Broadway evening performances and other events and activities taking place during what is being billed as “the new Saturday.” Typically, rates on Sunday evenings are the lowest compared to other days of the week. www.nycgo.com/sundaynightstays. NYCxDESIGN(http://www.nycxdesign.com) is New York City’s official annual citywide celebration of design. The event, slated to take place May 9-20, 2014, is produced by NYC & Company in conjunction with a steering committee, which includes leaders from major cultural institutions, top design schools and firms, designers and design stakeholders and government officials. Participating design communities include, but are not limited to, architecture, cultural organizations, graphic design, fashion design, product design and manufacturing, engineering, industrial design, interior design, interaction design and landscape and urban design. Last year the celebration featured more than 330 individual events.

In May, 2013, NYC & Company announced the city’s first-ever Design Collection (www.nycgo.com/designcollection)program, showcasing hotels that exemplify great design in all its expressions. The 18 city hotels in the Design Collection are 6 Columbus; 60 Thompson; Chambers Hotel; Dream Downtown; Dream New York; Eventi, A Kimpton Hotel; Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC; Gansevoort Park Avenue NYC; Gild Hall, A Thompson Hotel; Hudson New York; The James New York; Le Parker Meridien New York; The Muse Hotel; Smyth Tribeca, A Thompson Hotel; W New York; W New York – Downtown; W New York – Times Square; W New York – Union Square.

In March 2013, NYC & Company launched Neighborhood x Neighborhood, a global communications campaign designed to support local businesses and encourage exploration in neighborhoods outside traditional tourist locations across the five boroughs (the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island). The program will continue through 2014 with new Presenting Sponsor Santander Bank, N.A. The sponsorship includes a redesign of the program’s web page and production of taxi videos each month, bus stop shelters and street-pole banners highlighting the selected neighborhoods. Each month, new neighborhood highlights are unveiled with a press release, B-roll, photo packages and editorial content on www.nycgo.com/nxn. So far, NYC & Company has highlighted:

• Bronx
• Arthur Avenue and Fordham Road
• South Bronx
• Brooklyn
• Coney Island
• Park Slope
• Downtown Brooklyn: Williamsburg, Fort Greene and Bushwick
• Manhattan
• East Harlem and El Barrio
• Inwood, Harlem and Washington Heights
• Lower Manhattan
• Lower East Side
• Queens
• Corona, Jackson Heights and Forest Hills
• Flushing
• Long Island City
• Staten Island
• Tompkinsville (“Little Sri Lanka”)
• North Shore neighborhoods of Port Richmond, Randall Manor, St. George and West Brighton

NYC & Company plans to highlight the following neighborhoods in 2014:
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Rockaways and Jamaica Bay, Queens
City Island and Pelham, Bronx
Staten Island Beaches
Chinatown, Manhattan

To complement the Neighborhood x Neighborhood effort, NYC & Company’s Tourism Development team has unveiled three travel trade tool kits(www.nycgo.com/traveltrade/toolkits) for specific neighborhoods including Long Island City, Queens; Downtown Brooklyn and Surrounding Neighborhoods; and Lower Manhattan.

New York City prides itself on appealing to a diverse range of visitors. Growing the family segment is a key focus for NYC & Company. To accomplish that, in June NYC & Company announced Where’s Waldo? as the city’s fifth officialFamily Ambassador, providing tips on what families can see and do in the five boroughs (www.nycgo.com/waldo). In 2012, New York City welcomed an estimated 15.2 million family visitors, a 2.7 per cent projected increase over 2011, contributing approximately $15 billion in direct spending to New York City’s economy.

Information on what to see, do and enjoy in New York City this Spring can be found on NYC & Company’s official visitor website,www.nycgo.com/slideshows/nyc-spring-guide-2014/.

When visiting New York City, NYC & Company’s flagship Official NYC Information Center in Midtown Manhattan at 810 Seventh Avenue (between W 52nd and W 53rd Streets) is the place to pick up the latest visitor guides and maps, purchase attraction tickets and MetroCards, speak to travel concierges and print out itineraries to explore the five boroughs. To find out all there is to see and do and plan your future trip to NYC’s five boroughs, visit the city’s official tourism website, www.nycgo.com.