By Bill Parry
The Big Apple is booming. The city’s tourism industry shattered the all-time high with 56.4 million visitors in 2014, generating a record $61.3 billion in economic impact while supporting 359,000 jobs and $21 billion in wages.
“From Soho to Soundview to Sunnyside, New York City offers visitors hundreds of unique neighborhoods and communities to explore,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “Our five boroughs are brimming with new enclaves of diverse food, performances and art shows around every corner. Our excellent quality of life, low levels of crime and constant dynamism continue to attract record tourism each year and 2014 was no exception.
The city’s hotel sector provided 102,000 hotel rooms last year, while selling a record 32.4 million total room nights, an all-time high. The tourism industry also generated $3.7 billion in local taxes.
These numbers, reported by the mayor Monday, help explain why Queens is expected to add 50 more hotels by 2019, including 20 in Long Island City alone.
“LIC is a great option for travelers due to its proximity to Midtown Manhattan, the airports and relative value, but we’re excited that the area is now being recognized as a destination in itself,” LIC Partnership President Elizabeth Lusskin said. “With some of the best cultural institutions, restaurants and parks anywhere, it’s the perfect place for visitors from near and far to explore, offering unique experiences and opportunities for discovery outside the typical tourist hubs. And we’re seeing more and more business travelers staying in LIC and doing business in LIC, not just Manhattan. Combining all of this with the amazing cultural, culinary and commercial opportunities that all of Queens has to offer, we can see why the demand is there to fill the many hotels here and the ones on the way.”
When the 176-room Aloft Hotel opens, as expected in September, it will bring the total of hotels in Long Island City to 25.
“That’s quite a boom considering just seven years ago there was only one hotel in LIC,” Rob MacKay, the director of Marketing and Tourism at the Queens Economic Development Corp., said adding that Flushing is experiencing a buildup as well.
“While LIC is marketing to Europeans and South Americans, Flushing is aiming all their marketing at Chinese travelers,” MacKay said. “And there’s more construction underway around JFK and the AirTrain is bringing a luxury hotel to Jamaica. It’s remarkable what’s going on. It’s our hotel era.”
There were over 2 million more visitors in New York City than the year before, making the Big Apple the No. 1 big city destination. the No. 1 port-of-entry for foreign visitors and the No. 1 city for tourism spending. The city also has the highest share of overseas visitation to the United States, accounting for nearly one-third. Top market performers continue to reflect the strong pull of New York City in the international arena, where visitors stay longer and spend more. The other leading international markets are United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, France, China, Australia and Germany in that order.
“That’s why everyone wants to put a hotel in Queens, because you have the two airports and the close proximity to Manhattan,” MacKay said. “Plus it’s a wide variety as well from a no -frills places to spend the night to boutique hotels to international chains to extreme luxury hotels with swimming pools and top-rated restaurants.
MacKay added that there is no end to the hotel boom in sight “unless there’s another terrorist attack or the crime rate goes up.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.
