January 6, 2009
Broadway, tourism totals top '07 despite recession
Despite the gloom-and-doom emanating from Wall Street, New York City’s hotels, cultural institutions and Broadway producers racked up record numbers in 2008, according to new data.
Even holiday grosses on Broadway were $2 million higher than a year ago, the producers league announced Monday.
And although hotel rates have finally started to drop, NYC’s occupancy rate is still 20 percentage points higher than the national average, according to NYC & Company, the city’s official marketing and tourism group.
New York City now has 75,600 hotel rooms, including the net increase of 1,800 during 2008. More than a dozen high-profile hotels plan to open in NYC in 2009, including the Thompson Hotel’s Smyth Tribeca, a Mondrian in SoHo, savvy but budget-conscious Ace Hotel, a W near the World Trade Center site, as well as the reopening of The Mark and The Pierre.
“Despite the economic challenges all cities are facing, tourism remains a bright spot for New York City, with 47 million visitors spending $30 billion here in 2008, the highest totals we’ve ever achieved,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said last week.
“To be sure, the ongoing downturn will weigh on New York City’s hospitality industry as people all over the world cut back on travel, but the investments we’ve made to promote New York City will continue to pay dividends, now more than ever. In 2007, the $28.9 billion in visitor spending we garnered caused New York City to surpass Orlando and Las Vegas to rank No. 1 among U.S. cities for the first time ever, and this year we’ve done even better,” Bloomberg said. “The number of overseas travelers coming to New York City continues to rise, and now roughly a third of all who come to the U.S. come to New York.”
The 47 million tourists set a new record for the city, topping the prior year’s 46 million visitors who spent an estimated $28.9 billion. The 2008 boost came from international tourism, which increased by 1 million to reach 9.8 million, according to NYC & Co. figures.
In the past year, Broadway grossed $940.9 million based on a paid attendance of 12,319,902. Theater seats were 75.6 percent filled for the season, with musicals such as “Wicked,” “Jersey Boys” and now “Billy Elliott” at capacity for most performances.
Other visitor attractions and cultural organizations in NYC saw a 14 percent increase in attendance through September, compared with the same period last year, according to NYC & Company estimates.
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology
Earlier: NYC price check: what the basics cost right now
Broadway sold record 12.3 mln tickets in past season
January 6, 2009 10:20 AM in Broadway, Hotelology, Sightsology
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