Latest stats show positive gains for New York City tourism industry

NEW YORK — Is New York City on the verge of a comeback?

Mayor Eric Adams appears to assume so. He introduced file demand for the tourism industry final week.

CBS2’s Ali Bauman has extra on what this implies for business.

You needn’t inform New Yorkers that it has been a protracted two years for town’s restaurant and leisure industries. But with summer season approaching, many within the business are cautiously optimistic that vacationers are lastly coming again to the Big Apple.

The Duhova household has lastly made it from Slovakia to New York City for their honeymoon.

And now that they are right here, they’re hitting all of the spots.

“All the main attractions — Statue of Liberty, everything New York is known for,” Duhova mentioned.

Those vacationers should not alone. Statue City Cruises, which function ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, says its variety of guests is as much as 70 p.c of pre-pandemic ranges.

“As of the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, we saw a higher-level surge where we saw most of our visitation really come back to levels that we haven’t seen since prior to the pandemic,” mentioned Rafael Abreu, VP of gross sales and advertising for Statue City Cruises.

Mayor Adams says resort demand has returned to 95 p.c of pre-pandemic ranges, with over 760,000 rooms booked final week.

And in the identical time, he says Broadway ticket gross sales hit the very best since theaters reopened final summer season.

“It definitely has been more bodies around, so that has been exciting news for us,” mentioned Shane Hathaway, supervisor of Hold Fast on Restaurant Row. “There is a cautious optimism that’s always present, but we do feel we have kind of moved past it all.”

But whereas nightlife and tourism are coming again, town comptroller says office occupancy remains to be effectively under pre-pandemic ranges, with office vacancies plateauing at increased charges.

“So some of the business has shifted to different neighborhoods,” mentioned Andrew Rigie of the New York City Hospitality Alliance.

Rigie says the endurance of hybrid work schedules is nice for some eating places and unhealthy for others.

“There is definitely a lot of restaurants in more residential neighborhoods that are actually faring better in their recovery than those restaurants in say Midtown, Manhattan that relied so heavily on office workers, and they may never come back to the levels that we had pre-pandemic, so we may need to think how we redevelop and rebuild Midtown, Manhattan,” Rigie mentioned.

Statue City Cruises says it’s now in hiring mode, including extra staff in each New York and New Jersey.

But town comptroller says job progress remains to be lagging within the hospitality and retail sectors.