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The New York tourist board, NYC & Company, confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that it was sticking to estimates published in early March, which forecast a net drop of 300,000 visitors from abroad for the current year. .
If this decline becomes effective, it would be the first since 2008, the year of the financial crisis.
At a press conference on Wednesday, NYC & Company chief executive Fred Dixon said the net loss of 300,000 visitors would represent a $600 million shortfall in spending by those foreign tourists.
Nevertheless, NYC & Company still anticipates an increase in the total number of tourists to New York in 2017, the drop in the flow of foreign visitors being more than offset by the expected increase in that of American tourists.
In total, the tourist office expects 61.7 million tourists, including 12.4 from abroad, against 60.7 million in 2016.
The figure is nevertheless lower than the first estimates for 2017, published in October before the victory of Donald Trump in the presidential election, which counted on 62 million visitors.
Fred Dixon said that in the first months of the year, arrivals at New York’s three main airports were up 3 to 5% compared to 2016.
Another positive sign, in the first four months of the year, hotel room reservations reached “record” levels, he added.
According to data reported by NYC & Company, the number of hotel rooms booked in January and February is higher than in 2016, by 5.6% and 1.9% respectively.
Provisional data also show record figures in March and April, with more than three million overnight stays for each month, an increase of more than 20% compared to 2013.
“The concern we have is for the future,” explained Fred Dixon, referring to the summer months, the high season for foreign visitors.
For him, much will depend on the eventual application of Donald Trump’s immigration decree, now suspended, as well as the possible extension of the ban on laptops on flights to the United States.
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The New York tourist board, NYC & Company, confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that it was sticking to estimates published in early March, which forecast a net drop of 300,000 visitors from abroad for the current year. .
If this decline becomes effective, it would be the first since 2008, the year of the financial crisis.
At a press conference on Wednesday, NYC & Company chief executive Fred Dixon said the net loss of 300,000 visitors would represent a $600 million shortfall in spending by those foreign tourists.
Nevertheless, NYC & Company still anticipates an increase in the total number of tourists to New York in 2017, the drop in the flow of foreign visitors being more than offset by the expected increase in that of American tourists.
In total, the tourist office expects 61.7 million tourists, including 12.4 from abroad, against 60.7 million in 2016.
The figure is nevertheless lower than the first estimates for 2017, published in October before the victory of Donald Trump in the presidential election, which counted on 62 million visitors.
Fred Dixon said that in the first months of the year, arrivals at New York’s three main airports were up 3 to 5% compared to 2016.
Another positive sign, in the first four months of the year, hotel room reservations reached “record” levels, he added.
According to data reported by NYC & Company, the number of hotel rooms booked in January and February is higher than in 2016, by 5.6% and 1.9% respectively.
Provisional data also show record figures in March and April, with more than three million overnight stays for each month, an increase of more than 20% compared to 2013.
“The concern we have is for the future,” explained Fred Dixon, referring to the summer months, the high season for foreign visitors.
For him, much will depend on the eventual application of Donald Trump’s immigration decree, now suspended, as well as the possible extension of the ban on laptops on flights to the United States.
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