New York City Aims to Bolster Business Travel

Image: Aerial view of lower Manhattan. (Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Melpomenem/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Image: Aerial view of lower Manhattan. (Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Melpomenem/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 10:55 AM ET, Sat September 30, 2023

New York City wants its business back.

Or, more specifically, it wants its business travel back. So to that end, officials are embarking on road trips to try and convince people that the financial, business and media capital of the world is still open.

Or reopened, as the case may be.

Tourism officials from New York City Tourism + Conventions, New York City’s official destination marketing organization, are visiting various countries and tourism conventions to push business travel.

That is especially important since the fall has been historically considered a peak business travel period for the city. New York City expects to attract 12.1 million business travelers this fall, about three million more than last year. New York City is literally marketing itself all over again to various entities. For instance, NYC Tourism + Conventions President and CEO Fred Dixon made a September 28 pitch to attendees at a tourism convention at the Javits Center.

“Business travel is essential to New York City’s full tourism recovery, historically accounting for 20 percent of visitation and 30 percent of spending,” said Dixon in a statement. “As we continue our efforts to engage business professionals across the globe through sales missions, conferences and major events, we’re seeing considerable growth among the business travel segment, a significant component of NYC’s tourism economy.” 

“There is no city like New York City, and we’re proud to be the destination for so many large scale events from across the globe,” added New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a statement. “These large events are vital to our city’s continued economic growth, and there’s truly no place to host an event as vibrant, diverse, or appealing as New York City, so I invite all professionals to book their many unique events at spaces across the five boroughs. I just have one request for our visitors: spend money.”

By visiting numerous countries, including in Europe and Latin America, and attending conventions and conferences around the world, New York City is taking an aggressive approach to try and bring back business travel after it suffered through the pandemic.

“Hosting global sales missions and participating in major events such as IMEX America—our largest attended trade show as an organization—continues to support our goal of bringing more meetings, conventions and incentives to New York City,” said Jerry Cito, EVP, Convention Development at New York City Tourism + Conventions.

“NYC offers a multitude of experiences for business event professionals, leading to higher-than-average attendance for events that select NYC.”


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