Mr. Charlot, NYC & Co., the City of New York’s tourism marketing organization, is coming to Zurich this week. What are your plans and what are your goals?
After two years of “lockdown”, New York City is now once again a travel destination open to foreign visitors, including those from Switzerland. The goal of our visit is clear: we want to recall our city and its attractions to a certain extent, or you could also say that New York City wants to introduce itself in a new way. To this end, we are holding an event for selected top agents at the Ameron Zurich Bellerive au Lac next Thursday, March 17th. We are supported by a few partners, such as United Airlines, which connects Zurich and New York by air, as well as various representatives of New York attractions. On Friday, March 18, we will also have one-on-one meetings with Swiss tour operators who have the USA on their schedule.
Nice that you honor Switzerland!
Switzerland has always been an important market for us, and it is very important to us to actively work on it again. Strictly speaking, before the visit to Zurich we are also traveling in Germany – in Frankfurt, Hanover and Hamburg – and after Zurich then also in Madrid. Apart from a visit to London as part of Brand USA Travel Week last October, this is the first overseas marketing visit since the pandemic began. This underlines the importance of the German-speaking market for us.
Can you say something about the numbers that New York City recorded recently for tourism?
We’re not yet breaking this down into individual markets. One thing is clear: in 2021 we only recorded 2.7 million international visitors, most of whom came from neighboring countries such as Mexico or Canada, as the USA was otherwise practically dense. For the current year we are already expecting 8 million international visitors. That would bring us back to around two-thirds of the 2019 level.
2019 was a record tourist year for New York City with a total of 66.6 million, of which over 13 million were foreign visitors. When do you expect a return to this level?
First of all, I would like to state that New York was not completely “closed” during the pandemic, but numerous domestic visitors and some from abroad came back to the city early on. This has allowed many companies to make ends meet and also to develop tourism. So the offer is still wide and there were also many new openings during the pandemic. However, we also realize that Covid has been a turning point and it will take time for travel to return to normal. We expect to be able to report record numbers again from 2024 or 2025.
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“We do not expect a return to 2019 levels until 2024 or 2025.”
You talk about innovations. What is there to discover for “returnees to the USA” or for first-time visitors?
First-time visitors usually look at the “Iconics”, i.e. the world-famous sights of the city, such as the Statue of Liberty or Times Square. The more often someone comes to New York, the greater their curiosity to discover something new and to explore the boroughs outside of Manhattan.
Regarding your question: It is certainly worth mentioning that we have another great viewing platform. Anyone who knows the view from the Empire State Building, the Top of the Rock in the Rockefeller Center, the One World Observatory or even from the Edge at Hudson Yards – which only opened in 2020 – will find it Summit One Vanderbilt a fifth viewing platform. This offers not only a new, spectacular
view, but also the city’s only glass exterior elevator, named Ascent. With the City Climb at the Edge at Hudson Yards there is now also a “Skyscraping Adventure”, where you. only secured with a rope, climb the outer wall of the building and at the Edge on the edge of the building you can see the city without obstacles – at a height of 366 meters… If all this is too daring for you, you can now fly over New York virtually: RiseNY is an immersive, interactive experience that allows visitors to get a bird’s-eye view of New York City, yet float just a few feet off the ground in seats.
What about the culture section?
There is also a lot that is new to offer. Of course, all Broadway shows are back. There is also new that Museum of Broadway, the first permanent museum dedicated to Broadway, opening in Times Square this summer. The world-famous Apollo Theater in Harlem is experiencing the Victoria Theatre for the first time a comprehensive expansion; the opening will take place in a few days. And if we move outside of Manhattan: That Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, in the borough of Queens, is expanding both spatially and programmatically to create a new cultural center, due to open later this year, which will include an interactive exhibit, archive collections, 68-seat jazz club and shop. This year will also be that Bronx Children’s Museum reopened after moving to a new home in Mill Pond Park.
We don’t even need to start with the rich offer of concerts, exhibitions, festivals and parades, that would go beyond the scope of the interview… and we haven’t even talked about the gastronomy, shopping or sports offers.
But let’s talk about the hotel offer. What’s new?
Very much! Over 9,000 new hotel rooms will be added to New York City’s portfolio this year alone. This brings us to an available total of around 128,000 hotel rooms. This is an eagerly awaited highlight Aman New York Fifth Avenue, the first high-end urban hotel in North America. The new one is also in the luxury segment Ritz-Carlton NoMad, which is inspired by the new Madison Square Park. These are also new Hard Rock Hotel New York in Midtown Manhattan. Additionally, in the coming months, the Renaissance Hotels brand will have homes in Harlem and Flushing open. The Virgin Hotel New York City and the Hotel Barrière Le Fouquet’s New York are expected to open this summer, and Moxy Hotels will open properties in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and in Williamsburg, in the borough of Brooklyn, later this year. Oh yes, and that The Fifth Avenue Hotel is expected to open in the fall.
There is a lot of marketing work there. How successful was the big $30 million marketing campaign?
The campaign was initially launched domestically, along with AAA and Amtrak. Then came the neighboring countries. From November 8th, the European countries followed – Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany. From our point of view, this has been very successful so far. Now we are tackling the second wave, in which other, smaller markets will be processed directly. It is still unclear which countries will be included. But Switzerland is definitely on our radar.
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“As of March 7, 2022, presenting a vaccination certificate or wearing a mask is no longer required by law in New York City.”
Flight capacity from Switzerland to New York is now back to around 2019 levels, while more and more cruise lines are also returning to the Port of New York… The return to pre-pandemic visitor levels couldn’t be quicker than expected to happen? Many want to travel to the USA again after two years of “no go”.
The statement is correct and we are very confident. But as mentioned, returning to previous levels will not happen automatically and instantly. You don’t really know what else will happen in the near future, the pandemic is not completely over and the geopolitical situation is more uncertain than it was before. We are therefore rather conservative in our forecast and do not expect the figures from 2019 to be available again until 2024. If it happens sooner, all the better. In any case, the figures from the first two quarters since the reopening of the USA are encouraging.
Of course, the situation on site is also important. How is everyday life on site, what is still relevant for tourists?
First of all, there are the rules for entering the USA – for which New York is often the gateway. To put it simply, everyone over the age of 18 must be vaccinated against Covid, and each person must also present a negative test result that is no more than 24 hours old. In New York, the situation has since eased somewhat: since March 7, 2022, presenting a vaccination certificate when visiting restaurants, theaters, shops or attractions is no longer required by law, but can still be required – that is at the discretion of the individual service provider. For example, a certificate must still be presented to visit the Whitney Museum or a Broadway show. The same applies to the obligation to wear a mask. Masks are still required in many restaurants, but by law this is no longer the case. Travelers must find out in advance what is required where.
In any case, this is a big step forward. This has to do with the fact that the number of cases is now very low. In the past week, only 550 new Covid cases were registered in our city, which has over 8 million inhabitants.
That is indeed very deep. Finally, has anything changed in the prices?
Not really. The prices for hotels and attractions, simply formulated as an average size, have remained at about the same level. The premise is that costs have increased as a result of the pandemic and that many travelers have been able to save on travel budgets as a result of the pandemic, which is why prices were kept at the same level despite temporarily lower demand. We know that the Swiss franc is now strengthening again and, while not significantly changed against the dollar, is still advantageous – the Swiss in particular can now afford a trip to New York…
Our hope is that we will travel a little longer now. The average length of stay for Swiss people in New York before the pandemic was between 4 and 5 nights; it would be nice if that increases to 7 to 8 nights. In any case, there is enough to do in our city even for such a period of time, especially if you want to get to know the other “boroughs”. New York also offers beaches, wellness facilities, countless events and also excursion possibilities. Now is really the time to get to know our city anew, or for the first time.
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(The interview was conducted in English)
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