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Tourism returns and Times Square hopes to regain its shine

David Cohen has been looking forward to a return to the days when business thrived at his family’s souvenir shop in Times Square.

Although tourists have started to return, foot traffic is still not what it was before the coronavirus pandemic, when hordes of visitors crowded under the electric fences outside his store.

But the gradual return of tourists to a place popularly known as the intersection of the world could help accelerate the recovery of small businesses like his – many of them family-owned stores – that collectively employ thousands of people and serve as one of the engines. major economic in New York City.

“We welcome you with open arms,” ​​Cohen said after the United States this month began allowing the entry of vaccinated international travelers. “We have a long way to go.”

Times Square has long been a symbol of New York’s bustle, but when the theaters on Broadway closed their doors and the city became the epicenter of the pandemic in the world, 9 out of 10 businesses in the area had to close, according to a district group, The Times Square Alliance.

“We really were a symbol of the pandemic and the pause in the world,” said Tom Harris, president of the organization.

Three-quarters of the area’s businesses have already reopened, little by little, with Broadway shows starting over, just for vaccinated spectators.

Among those who have reopened are businesses that do not directly serve tourists, but are part of the ecosystem of shows in the city.

Sam Vasili’s Shoe Repair business reopened last month across from the Gershwin Theater on 51st Street, where it has operated for three decades.

Owner Sam Smolyar was all smiles on a recent afternoon as he shared the news that a Broadway production about to reopen had requested his help. For years, their shoe repair business has provided custom boots to the Rockettes. “We depend on the theater, on business here,” he said.

He hopes that more people buying Broadway tickets will lead to more business for his store.

“It’s starting to get better,” said Vasili, who has three employees.

Just before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, New York City was recording record numbers of tourists: 66.6 million in 2018, of which 13.5 million were foreigners. So the pandemic forced severe travel restrictions.

An advertising blitz has been going on for months to remind Americans that New York City is open for business again and ready for visitors. Now the city has expanded its promotional campaign to those outside the United States, who are especially coveted because they spend more time and money visiting.

Although domestic travel accounted for 80% of visitors, foreign tourists account for roughly half of tourism spending in the city and usually half of hotel reservations.

Harris of the Times Square Alliance said the district is already on the mend. Since May, he said, the number of pedestrians counted at some sites has grown from 150,000 a day to 250,000, but still far fewer than the roughly 365,000 who walked the streets of the area before the pandemic.

“Between the reopening of Broadway and the return of international tourists,” Harris said, “we really hope to beat those pre-pandemic numbers sooner than many are predicting.”

Among the returning tourists are people like Marina Galán, who watched Times Square from the stands under a cascade of lights. She and her friends traveled to New York from Madrid on the first day that the US borders were reopened to vaccinated foreigners.

“When you go back to New York, this is what you want to see,” he said. “Everything is returning to normal.”

His friend Pablo León said he was eager to return. They took a risk last March when they bought tickets to the Broadway musical Hadestown, despite not knowing when they would be able to travel to the United States.

“That was a risk because we bought the tickets for tonight, not knowing if we could come,” Leon said.

NYC & Company, the city’s tourism agency, is spending millions of dollars abroad to attract tourists. It projects that there will be 2.8 million foreign visitors by the end of the year, a fraction of the 13.5 million who visited the city in 2019. With the borders reopened, officials expect the number of visitors to rise steadily in the coming years. and hit record levels again in the next four years.

“We look forward to doing everything we can to expedite that process,” said Chris Heywood, the agency’s executive vice president.

The campaign initially focused on Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and parts of Europe, but will almost certainly expand to other countries, possibly China, a particularly lucrative market because Chinese tourists spend much more than those of other nationalities.

Chinese visitors, however, may decide to stay in their country for now due to quarantine requirements upon return: at least two weeks.

“Day trips and domestic tourists are helping Broadway, museums and restaurants, but New York cannot reach pre-pandemic visitor levels until international tourism fully recovers,” said State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“Reopening the borders of the United States is important, but other factors beyond our control make it difficult to see when we will have the numbers that we had before the pandemic,” DiNapoli added.

The return of annual traditions to New York City, such as the Thanksgiving Parade and the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, could attract more visitors.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a $ 450 million initiative to revitalize tourism in the city.

On a recent day, William Brownstein was advertising comedy club tickets to passersby who might be ready to laugh after months of grim news.

“With all the craziness that has happened” – with Republicans and Democrats, with people for and against vaccines – “you have to laugh at it,” said Brownstein, who returned to work in May when comedy clubs received authorization to reopen.

“I think that as time goes by, we will see more people visiting,” he said. “It’s going to take a bit of time, but they are going to come back like before.”

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