nyc tourism conventions

NYC & Company is Now New York City Tourism & Conventions

Mar 28, 2023

New York City’s Official Destination Marketing Organization and Convention and Visitors Bureau Introduces New Name and Brand Identity System

#whatsgoodnyc social campaign launches today harnessing the “opinion power” of millions of new yorkers.

New York City (March 28, 2023) — At its Annual Meeting today, President and CEO Fred Dixon debuted the new name and brand identity of the City’s official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the five boroughs of New York City: New York City Tourism + Convention s. The destination’s new brand system aimed at travelers from around the world includes a new brand strategy and comprehensive visual identity system comprising a new logo, color standards, typography, art direction and graphic elements.

The debut of the new name and brand system was launched in conjunction with a social campaign, #WHATSGOODNYC, harnessing the “opinion power” of the City’s 8.5 million New Yorkers, offering them a chance to share their points of view on “what’s good” and what to experience across the City’s five boroughs. Tapping into travelers’ desire for authentic experiences, the foundation and strength of the new branding comes from its genuine, enthusiastic perspectives shared by a diverse mix of locals, highlighting New York City Tourism + Conventions’ role in amplifying these opinions to help travelers have a richer experience in NYC. The campaign offers insights, tips, recommended activities and excursions through various channels to engage and encourage visitors and locals to explore all New York City has to offer.

“With over 56 million visitors to the five boroughs last year, fueling tens of billions of dollars in spending for our local economy New York City is not coming back, it is back,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams . “New York City Tourism + Conventions’ new branding reflects our city’s energy and spirit and will make sure everyone knows that there’s never been a better time to visit the greatest city in the world. I’m a five-borough mayor, and I look forward to seeing visitors all over the Big Apple this year.”   “The introduction of our new name and brand system marks a significant moment for our organization,” said Fred Dixon, President and CEO of New York City Tourism + Conventions . “Our new brand captures the essence of New York City in its entirety: an ever-expansive destination that offers diverse and authentic experiences that enrich the traveler and benefit all New Yorkers. This shift strategically positions us to continue leading the City’s nearly $65 billion tourism economy. It makes clear our purpose and mission as the official tourism organization for one of the world’s greatest destinations—our commitment to New York City has never been greater.”

“We are excited about this brand evolution and for the organization’s continued stewardship of New York City’s tourism industry,” said Charles Flateman, New York City Tourism + Conventions Board Chair and Executive Vice President of The Shubert Organization . “The creation of this new brand system was informed and supported by dozens of organizations and hundreds of individuals from the tourism industry including members and visitors alike. We look forward to working with all our partners and stakeholders to further the work of connecting local businesses, visitors and residents, and spreading the benefits of tourism across all five boroughs.”

NYC-based global design consultancy 2x4 served as the creative partner on the extensive process to determine the new name and brand strategy, ensuring a name that represents the organization’s mission clearly to the travel industry and consumers: to support New York City’s travel and tourism economy and provide a deeper, richer, more authentic experience of New York City for visitors. The structure, mission and global network of New York City Tourism + Conventions  remains the same as that of NYC & Company.

“We are an organization comprising passionate New Yorkers who have deeply informed our new brand and how it comes to life to engage travelers from around the world,” said Nancy Mammana, Chief Marketing Officer of New York City Tourism + Conventions . “Our new strategic direction, which includes a new website launching in May (nyctourism.com), social channels and media assets, will drive future marketing campaigns, content and partnerships. Through these exciting new changes, our intention is to create even greater engagement and value for travelers, partners and other stakeholders in a way that also ensures New York City remains a premier destination for business and leisure travel.”   

“When creating the visual identity system, we wanted to reflect the fabric of New York City, and the rhythm and energy that locals and tourists alike love most about it,” said Elan Cole, Executive Vice President, Co-Lead, Creative/Content for New York City Tourism + Conventions . “In collaboration with our creative partners at 2x4, we created a system that reflects New York City itself, a place of unmatched diversity and culture that draws in and welcomes people from all over the world. Our new system represents this vibrancy and the abundance of experiences in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs.”

The brand’s visual identity system is inspired by the graphic heritage of the City as well as the works of artists and designers who themselves were inspired by the five boroughs. The irregular shapes and intersections of the graphic elements and the logo—references to horizontal streets and vertical building shapes—play with contrast, expansion and contraction to reflect the City’s energy. The secondary color palette surveys New York City icons and associations, from Liberty Green, Taxi Yellow and Ferry Orange to Lox Pink, Brownstone and Rockaway Sand. More details are available at nyctourism.com/rebrand.

New social media handles @nyctourism and @nyctourismnews will launch across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn encouraging New Yorkers and travelers alike to engage and share using the hashtag #WhatsGoodNYC. 

New York City’s economic recovery continued in 2022 with over 56 million travelers arriving in the City—a 72.5% increase over 2021. The City saw 9.4 million international travelers visit the five boroughs—more than triple the number in 2021. The City also hosted over 4 million business travelers signaling the return of this important segment. This activity marks the return of 85% of the City’s record 2019 visitation levels. The City remains on track to welcome 63.3 million visitors in 2023. The pace of tourism’s rebound helps fuel New York City’s economic recovery having supported approximately 340,000 jobs in the full leisure and hospitality sector, more than $40 billion in direct visitor spending and approximately $60 billion in total economic impact for 2022.

About New York City Tourism + Conventions : New York City Tourism + Conventions is the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the City of New York, dedicated to maximizing travel and tourism opportunities throughout the five boroughs, building economic prosperity and spreading the positive image of New York City worldwide. For all there is to do and see in New York City, visit nyctourism.com

Annual Report 2023

New York City Tourism + Conventions is the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the five boroughs of New York City. Our mission is to invite the world and energize the City, building equitable, sustainable economic prosperity and community through tourism for the mutual benefit of residents, businesses and visitors.

Letter from OUR Chairman and CEO

Welcome to our 2023 Annual Report.  The story of New York City tourism is one of resilience and tenacity. This report is a record of the creative energy, relentless determination and innovative collaborations that are, once again, returning the tourism and convention industry to reliable growth in visitation, spending, jobs and economic impact.   The numbers bear out the story. Last year saw robust growth in visitor volume, up almost 10 percent from 2022. The forecast for 2024 calls for moderate but healthy growth at 4 percent. Looking further out, indicators point to consumers continuing to prioritize travel spending giving confidence to our projection that 2025 visitation is likely to exceed 68 million for the first time, almost 2 million more than our prior record.  Challenges to this level of growth remain and must be continually monitored and addressed. Ongoing economic pressures, geopolitical tensions and competing destinations factor strongly, but also perceptions of safety and shrinking city contract funds strain resources and reduce marketing reach. As we continue to navigate these challenges and the road to full tourism recovery, we are guided by our strategic priorities and an enduring commitment to celebrating the rich diversity of the five boroughs as the greatest destination in the world. One of our greatest advantages is the partnership with you, our members and stakeholders. It is your investment that fuels our programming and enriches our content. It is our promise to continue delivering a robust suite of benefits, insights and sales opportunities to grow your business as your one-stop shop for maximizing tourism impact. As we look to the exciting year ahead and major events like America250 and FIFA World Cup 26, we are more grateful than ever for your engagement and support. Charles Flateman Chairman New York City Tourism + Conventions ‍ Executive Vice President The Shubert Organization Fred Dixon President and CEO New York City Tourism + Conventions

Pathing recovery: 2023 data

New York City’s tourism and convention industry performance was marked by steady recovery patterns across all sectors—day and overnight, domestic and international, as well as leisure and business travel.

Travel Performance 2019–2023

Strong fundamentals sustain travel to New York City in 2023 and lay the groundwork for continued growth.

By the end of 2023, overall visitation had reached 93% of 2019 benchmark levels. Monthly visitor trends returned to typical seasonal patterns, rising from the winter doldrums of January, warming up in spring and summer, and then taking off with the return to school, work and shoulder-season travel from September through December 31. The final numbers for 2023 reached 62.2 million visitors—11.6 million international and 50.6 domestic. This was a 9.6% increase over 2022 levels, driven by the strong return of international travel (up 23%). The domestic day-trip market was a key driver of success at 24.6 million, while overnight reached 25.9 million.

Travel Benchmarks 2021–2023

The City and the travel industry have moved past the worst effects of the pandemic. Despite tremendous progress, full recovery is just out of reach.

Over the past three years, we have witnessed key market segments pacing at different rates. First to recover was the domestic market accounting for the largest share of visitors and reaching 95% of 2019 benchmark levels. This activity was supported in each of the past three years by the leisure travel market pulled back into the City by the dynamic activity in places to dine, shop, eat, explore and stay. International travel has seen mixed results across the more than 20 origin markets that keep New York City the largest international destination in the US. The rapid recovery rates each year since 2020 have brought the international market back to 86% of benchmark. The business travel market, typically accounting for over 20% of the market, is also continuing to pull back up to 2019 levels.

International Visitation

With the most global mix of international markets, New York City is pacing back to record levels of visitation.

Looking at the top 10 inbound markets provided solid evidence of how international travelers are drawn to New York City. Between 2022 and 2023, visitation saw increases across all world regions. Canada and Mexico together grew by 42% year over year, reaching 98% of pre-pandemic levels. The overseas markets continued to grow, up 21% compared to last year and reaching 86% of overall benchmark levels. The UK remains in top position with more than 1 million visitors. European markets including France, Italy, Germany and Spain benefited from regular and direct air routes into our three international airports bringing in over 2.3 million visitors combined. The Asia-Pacific region highlighted Australia and China staying in the top tier. From Latin America, Brazil remained the most dynamic source market.

Hotel Performance

Overnight visitors to New York City are driving strong hotel room demand and high room rates.

Hotel performance continues to improve each year since the 2020 pandemic disruptions. Domestic leisure visitation has recovered most quickly across all five boroughs and classes of hotel service. Transient and group business events began to push demand and rates up during the spring and fall activity periods. Overall performance, however, reflects the slower recovery of longer staying international travelers from APAC and LATAM regions. Visitor accommodations in hotels averaged over 120,000 rooms in active inventory throughout the year (rooms used for shelter/emergency uses are not included in these calculations). By year-end, room nights sold (demand) had reached 36.1 million, a 7% year-over-year increase. Citywide occupancy rates averaged 81.6%, 10% above 2022, but still below 2019 record levels. Following national trends, the average daily rate (ADR) pulled ahead of pre-pandemic levels and continued the year-over-year increases.

Marketing Strategies

Through innovative branding strategies and an unwavering commitment to showcasing NYC’s dynamism and diversity, we promoted the five boroughs as the world’s most aspirational and welcoming destination.

Reenergizing Our Brand for a New Era

As of March 2023, we are New York City Tourism + Conventions. The introduction of our new name and brand system marks a significant moment for our organization. With our new brand, we aim to capture the essence of New York City in its entirety: an ever-expansive destination that offers diverse and authentic experiences that enrich the traveler and benefit all New Yorkers. This shift strategically positions us to continue leading the City’s nearly $65 billion tourism economy. It makes clear our purpose and mission as the official tourism organization for one of the world’s greatest destinations—our commitment to New York City has never been greater.

We launched digital media campaigns to help build awareness of our new name and branding. We also created a new welcome video to drive leisure visitation along with a new video targeted at business event planners, which features those planners describing why NYC is the ideal destination to host events. The videos capture the essence of “What’s Good in NYC” and have been well received in our events and speaking engagements.

The new NYCtourism.com website debuted in June with a refreshed look, bringing the new brand fully to life and providing a more intuitive experience for users, while still housing all the information visitors and our business audiences need to experience the best of the five boroughs. To spread awareness of the new site, we deployed out-of-home media (printed and digital bus shelters and LinkNYC screens) targeting locals and in-market visitors as well as a digital campaign (activating social media, account-based marketing, native display and outstream video) to reach B2B audiences to boost membership growth, convention and event bookings, tourism development inquiries and newsletter sign-ups.

Leveraging Our Complete Marketing Ecosystem

Our teams work constantly to inspire and inform potential visitors about the unique appeal of NYC as a destination. Our marketing ecosystem, anchored by our new website, serves as the central hub for travelers, locals and businesses seeking to explore the vibrant offerings of New York City. Our website emphasizes a user-centric approach, leveraging partnerships with leading travel marketing platforms and enhancing engagement with tools like QR codes, itineraries, video and other immersive content. Our email marketing program prioritizes subscriber engagement, sharing tailored messages for our various audiences. Our social media presence includes multiple platforms: Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, WeChat and Weibo for leisure travelers and LinkedIn for business audiences. NYC Tourism + Conventions also makes use of our substantial out-of-home media inventory through JCDecaux and Intersection to advertise vibrancy programs, amplify content and promote our partnerships.

Promoting the Breadth of Experiences Only Found in NYC

Content shared through our channels reinforces our commitment to celebrating New York City’s richness and diversity, ensuring a compelling presence in the digital landscape.

Our Webby Award–winning culinary content offering, Savor NYC SM , is updated monthly, along with a bimonthly feature on our social channels. Now our evergreen dining platform, Savor NYC focuses attention on the City's incredible dining scene to firmly reinforce NYC’s reputation as the dining capital of the world. The platform is an all-encompassing resource for locals and visitors, providing themes that highlight distinct cuisines, multicultural neighborhoods, seasonal dining and culinary offers. Savor NYC also showcases major citywide events and holidays through a culinary lens. Each month, the initiative receives promotion through owned, paid and earned media—including our website, social channels, email newsletters and LinkNYC screens. To date, the Savor NYC landing page on NYCtourism.com has earned over 270,000 unique page views. 

Our retail hub, Shopping in NYC , is updated quarterly and supported by long-form retail social videos featured bimonthly on our channels. Our team published several articles in support of this category, including “Immerse Yourself in the Luxury of Madison Avenue,” which invites readers to explore and shop the tony Upper East Side enclave; “Your Ultimate Guide to Holiday Shopping,” sponsored by Starbucks, featuring suggestions on the best locations across the City to purchase seasonal gifts; and a refresh of “25 Essential Soho Shops,” consistently one of our website’s best-performing pieces of content. In the meantime, our dedicated retail social coverage highlighted a wide swath of venues, including The Museum of Broadway Shop, The Shops at Rockefeller Center and holiday window displays of iconic retailers like Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s. Posts across Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube were focused on promoting shopping and retail, netting 361,000 impressions and 13.2 million engagements.

Arts & Culture

Arts and culture institutions and events across the five boroughs receive promotion through our quarterly guide , featuring prominent placement on our site and in social, as well as in our consumer- and business-facing newsletters. Each offers a variety of seasonal highlights, promoting the incredible depth and diversity of the City’s cultural milieu. Among the many institutions and organizations we covered this year were the Brooklyn Museum for their Spike Lee retrospective; artist Michael Richards’ show at the Bronx Museum; the New York Philharmonic; a performance by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; the Barkley Hendricks exhibition at the Frick Madison; costumes from the musical Six at The Museum of Broadway; and work from the show by artist Leslie Martinez at MoMA PS1. The Fall 2023 edition garnered 194,000 impressions and nearly 4,000 engagements alone.

Hip-Hop in NYC

We created an incredible array of content in support of the citywide celebrations of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop . That content now lives on the evergreen hip-hop hub on our website, serving as a resource for NYC visitors interested in exploring all aspects of the culture. The hub showcases inspirational stories, guides to hip-hop–themed small businesses, murals, interviews with notable figures and an interactive map with touchpoints to experience hip-hop culture across all five boroughs. Among our most important features are comprehensive guides to hip-hop history across the City; highlights of important moments in hip-hop from The Apollo Theater in Harlem; and interviews with Ralph McDaniels of Video Music Box , Debra Harris of Hush Hip Hop Tours and Rocky Bucano of The Hip Hop Museum. In addition, the team created a stunning printed map, promoted on over 150 bus shelters across the City, featuring the names of artists and places that helped shape and promote the movement. The team also inked a partnership with NYC radio celebrity Angie Martinez. We conducted our first-ever Instagram Live interview with her, and she recorded ads promoting the hip-hop hub on NYCtourism.com, distributed over Spotify. So far, the promotion has resulted in well over 100,000 unique page views.

It’s Time for Culture

Our It’s Time for Culture SM campaign, which ran in May 2023, supported the cultural community by showcasing unique value-added opportunities for arts lovers during one of the City’s prime moments on the cultural calendar. The program featured 103 events across 82 participants, and coincided with the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Frieze New York and NYCxDesign, offering a robust set of options for cultural visitors. It’s Time for Culture was promoted via NYCtourism.com, organic social media posts, a press release and targeted pitching, email newsletters, print and digital bus shelters, and LinkNYC screens. Paid media included ads on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, CTV, native display and SEM. In total, the program drove 115,000 landing page visits, delivered 62 million impressions on our out-of-home ads (valued at $578,000) and 7.5 million impressions for our digital paid media.

Check-In NYC

Like all of our content-driven initiatives, this ongoing series is published and promoted across both our web and social channels. As part of our mission to support NYC hotels and inspire visitation, #CheckInNYC covers a wide variety of the City’s accommodations, highlighting various hotel options, amenities, neighborhoods, new and renovated properties and only-in-New-York experiences that visitors can enjoy on a seasonal basis. Holiday- and NYC Winter Outing–themed content performed notably well. Over our social channels alone, the series has earned nearly 500,000 impressions and a 4.2% engagement rate—more than 2.5% higher than our average.

Other Content Initiatives

The team’s always-on efforts include a wealth of articles, posts and promotions that address our constituent audiences, aimed at inspiring potential travelers from diverse backgrounds to visit NYC. Each of these receives promotion through owned and paid media, including via our website, over our social channels and in our email newsletters.  In honor of U.S. Travel’s National Travel and Tourism Week, we compiled a list of six unmissable walking tours across the five boroughs to highlight in a media campaign that included a roundup article on NYCtourism.com, a social media series on Instagram and a weeklong LinkNYC flight. The tours included in the campaign reflect the diversity of NYC, covering Black arts and culture in Harlem, the global flavors of Astoria, the rich history of Mott Haven, sustainable eateries and shops in Williamsburg, the living history of Richmond Town in Staten Island and the Chassidic Jewish community of Crown Heights. We highlighted the Guides Association of New York City throughout the campaign as a resource to find guides who specialize in a range of tours across the five boroughs. Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, attractions and arts organizations of all types also receive ongoing coverage on our channels, in addition to dedicated promotion in our vibrancy campaigns.

Encouraging Sector Spending During Shoulder Periods

In 2023, we conducted two editions each of NYC Broadway Week SM , NYC Off-Broadway Week SM and NYC Restaurant Week®, complemented by the return of NYC Hotel Week SM and NYC Must-See Week SM , which are part of our expansive NYC Winter Outing SM program. Over 800 organizations participated in the NYC Winter Outing 2024 programs—a record. Member businesses were very active in promoting the program on email and social media posts, which we further amplified across all NYC Tourism + Conventions channels.

Our hallmark vibrancy initiatives support our members by increasing shoulder-season demand, offering visitors and locals the opportunity to enjoy experiences at an attractive price point during traditionally slow periods across hotels, restaurants, Broadway productions, Off-Broadway shows, museums, cultural institutions, attractions and tours. ‍ NYC Tourism + Conventions social published 140 organic posts throughout the NYC Winter Outing 2024 messaging cycle (Nov 14–Feb 4), earning 3.2 million impressions and 20,200 engagements.

Eighty-seven members participated in aggregate in our “Social Splash” campaigns dedicated to each program. In addition, 35 restaurants were nominated in our first-ever “Best Menu Award,” with many spots actively participating on their social channels to get out the vote. In 2024, the campaign creative for all programs was updated to incorporate our new brand design and creative system.

Growing our Audiences

Our strategic partnerships with a diverse array of organizations assist us in promoting NYC to potential travelers from around the world while nurturing a deeper appreciation for the City's rich experiences.

Reaching More Audiences Through Strategic Partnerships

Each of our partnerships showcase the breadth of activities available in the five boroughs, providing incremental support to our member businesses. Promoting cultural celebrations, sporting events and performing arts and working alongside travel and culinary institutions allows us to expand our audiences and the reach of our content. NYC Tourism + Conventions enables partners to promote their event or project through our digital and out-of-home marketing channels in exchange for providing equal exposure for our content through the partner’s website, newsletters and events.

Entertainment and Performing Arts

St. ann’s warehouse and monsoon wedding.

Monsoon Wedding is a stage musical adaptation of the acclaimed 2001 film of the same name, directed by Mira Nair. Telling the story of an Indian family as they prepare for a lavish wedding ceremony in Delhi, the cast and crew all represented the South Asian diaspora. NYC Tourism + Conventions partnered with St. Ann’s Warehouse to boost our Asian and South Asian content by including our South Asian guides, itineraries and content in their dedicated emails, ticket confirmation emails and social media posts.

And Just Like That…

This past summer celebrated the 25th anniversary of Sex and the City and the second season of Max’s spinoff And Just Like That . NYC Tourism + Conventions partnered with the franchise to celebrate this moment by coordinating lighting displays at the Empire State Building, Javits Center, One Bryant Park, One World Trade Center and Pier 17 in exchange for promotion in Max’s owned channels. Our brand and partnership was mentioned in the show’s official media release. Our shopping guides were featured on their social accounts, and they shared illuminated building images, tagging @nyctourism and the participating buildings. Additionally, our team participated in the Empire State Building lighting ceremony alongside actress Sarah Jessica Parker, confirming our role in enhancing the City’s tourism and cultural appeal.

The Life of Pi featured NYC Tourism + Conventions as a partner of the show on their website and drove to our Asian Experience content hub through dedicated social media posts, post-trip emails and inclusion on their website. In turn, the Life of Pi was promoted in our B2C newsletter content during AAPI Heritage Month in May.

BroadwayCon

BroadwayCon is an annual convention that brings together theater fans, professionals and performers to celebrate the world of Broadway. The event provides a unique opportunity for fans to connect with each other and with the Broadway community while celebrating their love for theater. We partnered with BroadwayCon to amplify our outreach for NYC Broadway Week. We delivered 1 million LinkNYC screen impressions, an event listing on our official website and social media support in exchange for a sponsorship logo inclusion, a dedicated digital screen amplifying NYC Broadway Week, social media promotion of our messaging and a dedicated post-conference email to attendees highlighting the program.

Chelsea Film Festival

The Chelsea Film Festival returned to NYC this year with a celebration of New York City’s cultural and cinematic landscape. They hosted the world premiere of our Local Legends film series, followed by a panel featuring our SVP of Content and DiversityInitiatives, Rondel Holder. This 11th anniversary of the Chelsea Film Festival had over 2,500+ submissions. Local Legends was one of 18 Indie Episodic films shown at this festival that garnered a 10,000 in-person attendance. We marketed this festival with 2 million LinkNYC impressions, an event listing on NYCtourism.com and a presence in NYC Tourism + Conventions’ Fall Guide in exchange for a screening of our Local Legends series at the festival, logo inclusion in event communications and banner ads in event emails.

New York Comedy Festival

We continued our partnership of the New York Comedy Festival by promoting the festival on LinkNYC screens, social media and in our consumer newsletters in exchange for promotion of our comedy guide through the festival's email channels. Our video content was also aired in the event venues.

SummerStage and Park Jams

Already a partner for our Hip-Hop in NYC content hub, NYC Tourism + Conventions partnered with Mass Appeal—already a partner for our Hip-Hop in NYC content hub—for the SummerStage Park Jams event on June19, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the genre as well as Juneteenth. The event took place at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park and featured performances by renowned hip-hop artists such as DJ Premier, Grandmaster Flash and Kid Capri, among others. We provided support for the event with out-of-home placements, social amplification, paid digital media and an event listing on our website. In return, we received partnership designation, logo presence on screens during the event, a dedicated call-out at the event, and access to tickets and VIP privileges. We also licensed our NYC Parks mark in celebration of hip-hop starting in a park to develop merchandise that was sold at the event and online.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

NYC Tourism + Conventions partnered with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for its Induction Ceremony on November 3 at Barclays Center. The event was also featured in our Hip Hop 50 campaign as it honored DJ Kool Herc, a pioneering figure in the foundation of hip-hop. We provided an event listing, paid social amplification, inclusion on LinkNYC screens and Taxi TV inventory and email newsletter inclusion in exchange for an ad in the digital program for the event, an email and social post promoting our hip-hop content to their membership, and logo inclusion in the credits on the Disney+ stream of the event. This exchange served as a fitting conclusion to our yearlong celebration of hip-hop, reinforcing NYC’s stature as a city that embraces and champions diverse musical legacies.

James Beard Foundation and Queens Night Market

NYC Tourism + Conventions partnered with the James Beard Foundation and Queens Night Market to promote an exciting culinary event at the newly opened Pier 57 dining venue operated by the James Beard Foundation. As part of the AAPI Heritage Month celebration, Queens Night Market hosted a special evening at Platform by JBF. We supported the event via an event listing, social media promotion and inviting community members featured in our Asian Experience content.

Multicultural

Black gotham experience.

We partnered with City Hall’s Public Design Commission and Black Gotham Experience (BGX) on the promotion and rollout of BGX’s short film, Epicenter . The film covers the history of NYC’s City Hall through the lens of the experiences of Black New Yorkers and debuted in February in commemoration of Black History Month. We promoted the film on LinkNYC screens and in email and social posts in exchange for attribution in the film and in social posts promoting the film, as well as rights and clearances to share a cutdown of the film in our social channels.

Harlem Week

This annual festival celebrates the rich history and culture of Harlem through in-person and virtual events. Ahead of the event’s 50th anniversary in 2024, we once again supported the program with social and editorial content in exchange for sponsor designation.

Diwali on the Hudson

Our collaboration with Diwali on the Hudson, in partnership with the Desai Foundation, marked a significant milestone as we joined forces for their 10th-year capstone event celebrating Diwali in NYC. This occasion marked the first-ever celebration of Diwali as a public-school holiday in the City. We gained valuable exposure by sharing our South Asian Guide on social channels owned by Diwali on the Hudson.

In celebration of the largest annual sporting event in NYC, we partnered with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to promote the US Open on our homepage and in our summer guide, as well as with influencer and social coverage during Fan Week. In return, the USTA promoted our site on USOpen.org, included our banner ad in their Insider email newsletter and aired our 30-second destination video to their audience of 500,000 tennis fans.

TCS New York City Marathon and NYRR Midnight Run

We continued our partnership with New York Road Runners (NYRR) with promotion of the TCS NYC Marathon. NYRR promoted our marathon viewing guide across their owned channels, including push notifications via their app, email inclusions and within their social media posts. This year’s marathon saw 51,453 runners from across 131 countries reach the finish line. The marathon app was downloaded 480,000 times and had a social media following of 859,000. In turn, we promoted the NYRR New Year’s Eve Midnight Run, adding the event to our website’s event listings and showcasing it on targeted social media posts.

JP Morgan Tournament of Champions

The JP Morgan Tournament of Champions is a professional squash tournament that features the world’s best squash players. Held January 18–25, this year marked the 26th year of the tournament at Grand Central Terminal.  NYC Tourism + Conventions provided several assets to the tournament, including a custom restaurant guide around Grand Central, access to our Delegate Pass, a welcome letter from the Mayor and video assets shown at City Winery, where the watch party took place. The tournament included our logo and links to NYCtourism.com in newsletters and social media posts and promoted the Delegate Pass to their attendees.

FIFA recently announced MetLife Stadium as one of the host venues for soccer matches for the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024, which will be promoted through NYC Tourism + Conventions social channels. Matches include Chile vs Argentina (June 25), Uruguay vs Bolivia (June 27) and the semifinal match (July 9). Looking to the FIFA World Cup 26™, New York/New Jersey was awarded the final match on July 19, 2026, along with seven other matches, cementing our region as the most important stage for the world’s biggest events.

Kayak and Priceline

On October 5, Kayak and Priceline invited NYC Tourism + Conventions to create an engaging familiarization trip for 100 airline partners who were brought to NYC in celebration of the airline community. In return, we received prominent exposure throughout the event and the opportunity to present to the participants.

Expanding the Reach of NYC Marks at Home and Abroad

NYC Tourism + Conventions aligns with many organizations to reach audiences, featuring the City’s unique character in a variety of goods from well-known brands. In 2023, we entered our ninth year of partnership with the iconic New YorkCity brand Only NY. They continually reinvent and promote the NYC Parks, TheCity of New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and NYC marks, keeping consumers interested in quintessentially New York City brands and institutions.We are excited to work on a partnership to highlight their 10th year as a licensee in 2025.

The collaboration between NYC Tourism + Conventions and Mass Appeal in Q3 enhanced the impact of the Hip Hop 50 celebration. Through this partnership, we successfully extended licensing rights for the NYC Parks and “Made in NYC” marks. This move enabled the production of exclusive apparel items, aligning with our business objectives and showcasing the City’s hip-hop culture. These products sold out during the Park Jams events as well as Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium. They continue to be featured on Mass Appeal’s website and contribute to our broader goal of promoting New York City's cultural richness on a global scale. In Q4, we partnered with NYC streetwear apparel brand TIER to launch an exclusive capsule collection featuring our new logo. The partnership marks the first of its kind for NYC Tourism + Conventions since the organization rebranded. The limited travel capsule collection, which features an interpretation of New York City’s new logo, brand identity and color palette, comprises hoodies, sweatpants, socks and baseball hats. The collection was promoted through our owned channels, out-of-home placements and social media channels. The partnership also included a love letter to NYC by TIER founder Nigeria Ealey. Shared on NYCtourism.com, this collaboration was also featured in Complex , Essence and Travel and Tour World .

NYC Around the World

NYC Tourism + Conventions focuses efforts on attracting both leisure and business travel. By showcasing NYC as the world’s foremost destination for business events, engaging with the travel trade, generating positive press and empowering member success, we help the City maintain its allure on the global stage.

Attracting Longer-Staying, Higher-Spending International Travelers and Meeting Delegates

Since their hiatus during the height of the pandemic, we have now fully restored our network of 17 international in-market representative agencies doing important work on the ground to build visitation and promote our members across 26 countries. These representatives sell our destination to top leisure travel trade, business event organizers and local media outlets throughout their regions. The teams’ efforts in these markets have resulted in a steady increase in lead generation and bookings for all manner of business events, such as meetings and incentive trips. Some markets are offering standout results. Brazil and Mexico are leading the incentives market from the financial, automotive, retail and pharmaceutical sectors, with short booking windows of 30 to 120 days. NYC has also secured hosting rights for various incentives from Singapore, Thailand and Australia, with potential interest from Malaysia and Indonesia for events in May and September. Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Western Europe are pivotal markets for corporate events and meetings, and leads from these regions, particularly in the technology, financial and insurance sectors, will be an important focus for our team through 2026.

This robust sales activity in market, together with our award-winning tourism campaign, kept NYC and our members front of mind for travel audiences around the world. The 2022–2023 iteration of our global marketing campaign, which had 16 distinct market executions that featured travel partners, drove more than 1 billion ad impressions and 1.7 million trips. The campaign was refreshed for 2023–2024, once again featuring Lady Liberty as the ultimate icon of our great city, beckoning potential travelers to NYC. Out-of-home advertisements and media placements launched in January for the latest iteration and will continue to run through 2024.

Showcasing NYC as the World’s Premier Business Events Destination

The Convention Development team remains focused on returning group business to NYC, engaging meeting planners at trade shows and sales missions, and promoting NYC in major markets at home and abroad.

Our Marketing team supports these efforts with media buys that amplify team activities, resulting in over 6 million ad impressions. We also produced a dedicated video for this audience to reinforce the message that NYC is where successful meetings happen.

Here at home, our Destination Services team supports meetings and events throughout the year, including major annual shows hosted in the five boroughs each year like the National Retail Federation, New York Toy Fair and Comic Con. In total, business events bring nearly 6 million visitors to the City, boosting business not just for hotels but restaurants, attractions and service providers as well. This year the team revamped the Destination Services tool kit, which contains several complimentary resources for business event professionals to assist in their planning and to help promote their events in NYC.

Inspiring and Driving Leisure Travel Through the Trade

Engaging the travel trade to drive leisure business is a major focus for our team. We showcase NYC and our members by hosting familiarization trips for top product managers and top-selling travel agents, leading sales missions (in over 12 major international markets in 2023), targeting high-value market segments (like luxury and long stays) and by providing educational and business development opportunities for trade and members.

The New York City Travel Trade Academy (TTA) was relaunched in Q2 of 2023, educating the travel trade on how to package and sell the five boroughs to potential visitors. The content is now available in 10 languages: German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, French, Chinese, Hindi and English.

Our Tourism Development team also curates unforgettable experiences for niche market segments. For the luxury segment, the team fosters partnerships with industry-leading associations like Serandipians and Virtuoso, and attends key luxury trade shows like ILTM. A partnership with IGLTA also elevates New York City's profile within the LGBTQ+ travel community, highlighting tailored programs and resources for this market. Efforts to welcome Muslim travelers have been well received by the trade in the Middle East and Southeast Asia market, including promotion of the NYC Halal Travel Guide, the ability to filter restaurants to find halal offerings on our website and dedicated Muslim traveler-friendly content on NYCtourism.com. We are also committed to specifically engaging and welcoming the growing Black travel market by participating in the Black Travel Summit and successfully hosting our inaugural Black travel familiarization trip in February 2024.

The City is preparing to host the 2024 Student & Youth Travel Association’s (SYTA) conference this coming August. This is a terrific opportunity to reinforce NYC’s status as the most popular student and youth destination in North America. NYC Tourism + Conventions is hosting several business expos and reverse sales missions in the City. Members can connect with international buyers locally, saving them time and travel expenses. The travel trade and media representatives also get to discover the five boroughs in person and learn about new services, experiences and travel products across the City. In February 2024, NYC Tourism + Conventions executed two reverse sales missions and business expos, welcoming 40-plus clients from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and Mexico. The team is planning more reverse sales missions and business expos later in the year with buyers from Ireland, the United Kingdom (March 25–29), France and Italy (June 16–20) and South America (August 19–23).

Keeping NYC Aspirational by Driving Positive Press Around the Globe

The Global Communications Team is constantly working to position New York City as a premier destination for leisure and business travel worldwide, evidenced by the more than 13,000 media stories they were able to affect, influence or place in 2023. Some of the year’s top themes targeted the rebound of international and business travel, a citywide celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, ways to visit NYC affordably and shoulder-season promotions showcasing our vibrancy programs featuring the hotel, restaurant, theater, attractions and arts sectors. In addition, the Global Communications team maintains a comprehensive crisis communications strategy at all times, which includes close coordination with city agencies, members, partners and stakeholders to coordinate and disseminate information relevant to the tourism industry during emergencies including weather-related situations. Media relations outreach engaged approximately 900 journalists in target feeder markets to develop highly individualized stories that speak to New York City’s diverse visitor mix. Efforts included the Visiting Media program, which hosted over 260 group and individual visits, composed of site visits, tours and hotel stays across all five boroughs, supported by our members and partners. Our more than two dozen What's New media briefings in 10 markets provided a broad update on major events, programs, and openings citywide as a source of inspiration for future stories. Global media coverage of New York City illustrates the breadth, depth and value of a visit, drives urgency to visit and reinforces the importance of tourism as a major economic driver that benefits all New Yorkers.

SUPPORTING THRIVING COMMUNITIES

We are committed to promoting sustainable tourism, cultural enrichment and economic empowerment. Through strategic partnerships, fundraising initiatives and support programs, NYC Tourism + Conventions fosters an ecosystem where local businesses flourish, neighborhoods thrive and diversity is celebrated.

Advancing Sustainability Dialogue and Best Practices

With our extensive public transportation network and density, NYC is an excellent choice for travelers mindful of sustainability. To support industry efforts to become more sustainable, we are proud to be a member of U.S. Travel’s Sustainability Committee and have ongoing partnerships with Climate Week NYC: The Nest Climate Campus, the World Travel & Tourism Council and The Climate Group. Our editorial team also publishes content on sustainability topics for both our consumer and business audiences.

Supporting Arts, Culture and Community Through the New York City Tourism Foundation

The breadth of the arts and culture scene across the five boroughs is one of the greatest strengths and advantages of our destination. Building awareness of these offerings is an ongoing commitment and supporting the wide variety of small but burgeoning nonprofit arts and cultural organizations that distinguish our city from others is another important tactic. We raise funds through our charitable arm, the New York City Tourism Foundation, to provide grants to local nonprofit, arts and cultural organizations for their own tourism and marketing efforts to build audience and awareness. The Foundation’s primary source of funding is our annual gala, held in December, where we honor industry leaders that have made a lasting impact. The 2023 edition raised over $600,000. Last summer we added a more casual and accessible fundraising event called Summer Soiree. Both of these events will return in 2024.

Empowering Member Success

NYC Tourism + Conventions’ 1,800+ members have access to a suite of business-building tools and resources. Our Membership and Events teams organize webinars detailing ways to reach consumers, travel trade and business event planners. In-person events like the annual meeting, business card exchanges and executive mixers foster professional connections with fellow members. Our Events team shares regular opportunities for members to join the Convention and Tourism Development teams at trade shows and sales missions, and members can work with us to be showcased in familiarization trips and site inspections.

We host regular webinars, our Member Talks, which cover topics from accessibility to gender-expansive hospitality training. Last year, we created a series of educational webinars called Meet the Market to educate our members on specific market segments and international regions, which also served to drive interest in joining a sales mission or deep engagement. The team hosted nine Meet the Market sessions the past year, a cross departmental effort between Membership, Events, Tourism Development and international office representatives. Markets and travel segments covered included Asia, Latin America, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, student travel and Black travel. Nearly 100 members went on to engage for the first time in sales missions, familiarization trips and trade shows after attending a session.

The Small Business Members Scholarship Program, now in its second year, is designed to provide qualified small businesses and cultural organizations with the necessary support and opportunity to participate in international sales missions and reverse sales missions with NYC Tourism + Conventions while sharing the true diversity of NYC experiences with the global trade. Following a comprehensive evaluation process, nine members were awarded the 2024 small business and cultural trade engagement scholarships. Additionally, through the membership portal of NYCtourism.com, members can access up-to-date market profiles and travel trend insights. Our Research team works on monthly updates to the New York City Tourism Barometer, also available to members providing information on visitor activities and spending, plus data on hotel performance, flight capacities, jobs and other helpful data. The Trend Report, published yearly each fall, provides additional detailed insights including visitation forecasts, hotel performance, traveler sentiment and global market updates.

Supporting Small Businesses Through Storytelling and Education

New York City’s variety of experiences is unmatched—a quality reflected in our members and their contributions to the City’s rich diversity. Through content on our website, social media campaigns, virtual education sessions and award-winning videos like our NYC Local Legends series, we uplift NYC’s multicultural communities to spread tourism’s economic benefits, connecting locals and visitors to the experiences that give the City its unique character. Our Tourism Ready program provides no-cost, valuable educational programming to the business community across the five boroughs on how to work with the travel trade to expand business opportunities. Through a series of free sessions, hospitality businesses learn to attract and manage group travel. These sessions also help expand tour operators’ offerings—encouraging repeat visitation and deeper exploration of the City’s neighborhoods, resulting in greater equity in tourism and economic impact. NYC Tourism + Conventions staff and members regularly participate in educational sessions and in-person experiences, learning about topics like LGBTQ+ and gender, land acknowledgements with the Lenape Center, Hispanic heritage, Diwali, accessibility, Black history and more.

2024 Strategic Priorities

In the year ahead, our work promoting the greatest city in the world will be driven by our core mission following four priority focus areas.

Continue positioning NYC as the world’s most aspirational and welcoming travel destination while influencing exploration of all five boroughs

We will continue to promote the vibrancy of all that NYC has to offer in a meaningful, consistent way across all of our channels, helping to keep our destination continually top of mind for travelers and prospective travelers around the world. Our Global Communications team will continue to work with key media outlets and influencers both locally and internationally to drive immediacy and demand, focusing on product and destination updates and promoting a positive image of NYC around the world. These updates will continue to stress not only all the can’t-miss seasonal developments and openings the City has to offer but also the new shows, restaurants, exhibitions and attractions that continue to provide a multitude of reasons to visit the five boroughs now—reinforcing that NYC is one of the most robust and diverse destinations in the world. We will also focus on promoting value and family-friendly ways to experience the City across all sectors in response to the economic challenges facing many of our key feeder markets while continuing to uplift opportunities that appeal to luxury or affluent travelers, again demonstrating the diversity of experiences available in NYC. Our social channels will continue to feature always-on content showcasing the exciting array of happenings in NYC at any given moment as well as ongoing content that supports each of our membership sectors. In addition to our internal team of experts, this content is developed by our award-winning Creator Squad, representing outstanding local voices across the categories of food, hotels, shopping, Broadway, culture and more. We will continue to showcase local businesses of all sizes, as well as community leaders and business owners across the five boroughs, to help promote neighborhood exploration and cultural diversity. Our Global Communications and Social Media teams will continue to support our signature marketing initiatives, including our vibrancy campaigns, to help drive traffic and sales to the hundreds of participating member businesses.   Alongside this work, our ongoing content initiatives will continue to showcase the diverse cultural fabric of our destination, inclusive of our seasonal guides and content platforms such as The Asian Experience in NYC, The Black Experience in NYC and The Latino Experience in NYC. These platforms showcase small businesses throughout the five boroughs, helping drive curiosity and exploration, and provide ample inspiration for visitors to return. They also appeal to first-timers eager for authentic cultural experiences to pair with visits to iconic sites. Our Marketing and Tourism teams are also focused on deeper audience development across key segments, such as luxury, Black travel and LGBTQ+. Our new luxury strategy includes refreshed content on our B2C site as well as a new B2B section exclusively for the luxury travel trade, featuring a specially curated selection of luxury product, resources and guides. We will also create a Luxury Travel Trade Council to create tighter connections with the luxury trade, ensuring they have ongoing product updates and that our organization has the latest insights into this impactful segment. Additionally, we will build on the success of our first Black Travel FAM that cut across our Tourism Development, Global Communications and Convention Sales teams, bringing leaders in Black media, leisure travel and business events into the City for an immersive destination experience. We will continue our engagement with the LGBTQ+ community, focusing our consumer messaging on NYC as a safe, welcoming destination, particularly as we ramp up to WorldPride in Washington, DC, in 2025, looking toward creating visitors’ pre- and/or post-event experiences. Our focus on student and youth travel has never been more important. We will host the 2024 Student and Youth Travel Association (SYTA) conference this August and will continue to focus on value and family-friendly travel moving forward. Other highlights include our partnership with the film Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire this March and a wealth of forthcoming content features about the City’s historic sites as we look forward to the 400th anniversary of the founding of NYC in 2025 and the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States in 2026.

Sustainably restore visitation, spending and business events

Our marketing campaigns will continue to center around two primary tranches: vibrancy campaigns designed to support our member businesses during key need periods, and our global tourism campaign designed to drive direct bookings to NYC through partnerships with airlines and tour operators around the world. Our vibrancy campaigns comprise NYC Restaurant Week, NYC Broadway Week, NYC Must-See Week, NYC Off-Broadway Week and NYC Hotel Week. These programs will continue under the NYC Winter Outing umbrella in January/February, providing more incentive to drive overnight visitation during our most critical needs period. We will continue to strive for more participation in these programs across all five boroughs to help support as many businesses as possible through the outreach efforts of our Membership and Government Affairs teams. We will also build on our support of those businesses with a suite of tools, including social media campaigns and menu-engineering tips to help them achieve as much success as possible. Further, we will continue to secure airline and rail partners to support the program, as well as the assistance of other brands that can help increase promotional reach and awareness. We will repeat our iconic NYC Restaurant Week program in July/August, as well as NYC Broadway Week and NYC Off-Broadway Week in the fall. And thanks to the invaluable support of our partner Bloomberg Connects, we will once again launch our It’s Time for Culture program this October, designed to provide a moment in the spotlight for our participating cultural members and give culture-lovers around the world a powerful reason to visit NYC at that time of year. We will continue our global tourism campaign, designed to drive direct travel bookings in our key feeder markets through the support of impactful airline and tour operator partnerships. We will develop refreshed creative that continues to iterate on the wildly popular Lady Liberty, leveraging key learnings from our 2023 SMARI results, proving that this imagery resonates with consumers at home and abroad. Our goal will be to continue spreading this effort across as many markets as possible, leveraging our international out-of-home media, courtesy of our partnership with JCDecaux, as well as digital media where possible and across key owned channels. Augmenting these efforts, our Tourism Development team will continue to work with the travel trade to train them on the latest developments in the City to promote a rich, five-borough product offering. They will continue connecting our members to the trade at key trade shows throughout the year, with a renewed effort on Reverse Sales Missions and Business Expos in tandem with our Global Communications and Convention Sales teams. This will allow us to bring more critical players into the market to experience NYC firsthand and engage with a wider variety of our member businesses. Our Convention Sales team will remain steadfast in its focus on bringing in big events of all sizes to NYC from around the world. The team plans to meet and exceed its room-night goals, continuing to grow our current and new relationships with clients both domestically and internationally to bring events to the City and confirm definite hotel room nights for our members.​ As part of this effort, the team will streamline trade show participation and increase participation in regional and national industry activities to best connect with business event professionals on the ground and encourage them to bring their next event to NYC​. In partnership with the Creative/Content and Marketing teams, Convention Sales will update and expand its suite of marketing collateral and sales tools, as well as its ongoing B2B advertising campaigns, which is designed to drive lead generation and traffic to our Meeting Planner website for continued engagement. The team will also continue to grow its partnerships with key industry associations to keep NYC top of mind as a business event destination unlike any other in the world.

Fueling business growth through increased member engagement

We will continue to develop new and enhanced opportunities for deeper engagement with our member businesses to help drive sales and awareness. First, we will maintain a regular cadence of Business Card Exchanges across the five boroughs to create ongoing opportunities for members to network and discover new opportunities for partnerships and business building. We will also continue our popular Member Talks series, both in person and virtual, providing our members with the information and tools they need to stay competitive. We are also developing new opportunities for members to showcase their product offerings and initiatives across our ecosystem through more integrated content and ad sales opportunities, as well as sponsorships of our corporate events, such as our annual NYC Tourism Foundation Gala, our Annual Meeting, Tristate Meeting Planner Event, Member Talks, Tourism Ready, Reverse Sales Missions and Business Expos and more.

Lay the groundwork for forthcoming big events to maximize tourism impact

In 2025 and 2026, New York City will be the site for some of the biggest celebrations the world has ever seen. NYC Tourism + Conventions is already working to ensure the foundation is created now to optimally leverage them for the benefit of our members and our destination. In May 2024, we will announce our upcoming history platform to media and travel trade around the world at IPW, designed to commemorate both the 400th anniversary of the founding of NYC in 2025 and the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States in 2026. This history platform, Founded By NYC, will commemorate both anniversaries by celebrating the unmatched creativity, innovation and influence New Yorkers have had over the world since our city’s founding. In our creative and content, we will uplift underrepresented voices and stories, particularly those of the Lenape Indian tribe, free and enslaved Black Americans, and women. Our content will cut across our editorial and social channels through an ongoing release of articles, interviews and photo galleries, celebrating the City’s past, present and future, and encouraging travelers to make their own history in NYC. Our platform will also include a partnership with the iconic Broadway musical Hamilton , because what better way to tell the story of NYC’s place in our nation’s founding than with the help of the story that started it all? This partnership will come to life in a variety of ways, with more details to be announced. As our America250 celebrations culminate in summer 2026, NYC and New Jersey will be home to the global celebration of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Eight matches will take place at New York New Jersey Stadium (MetLife Stadium), from Group Stage Matches starting June 13 to the Finals on July 19. As part of the festivities, there will be NYNJ Fan Fest events in every borough as well as many other tournament-related events. We look forward to leveraging this enormous opportunity to not only positively showcase our destination on a global stage but to encourage visitors to come early, explore more and stay longer.

2023 Financials

During the 12-month period ending June 30, 2023, NYC Tourism + Conventions recognized $21 million of the revenue received from the City through the city contract and an additional $11.6 million in other public funding, including additional funding from the City, the American Rescue Plan and New York State funds. Revenue from the private sector—including membership—totaled an additional $11.2 million. In FY24 and beyond, the company’s city contract is subject to further PEG reductions, which are expected to negatively impact revenue by at least an additional $3 million per year over the next four years.

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New York City Tourism + Conventions is the official tourism organization for the five boroughs of NYC.

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OUR MISSION

New York City Tourism + Conventions is the official destination marketing organization (DMO) and convention and visitors bureau (CVB) for the five boroughs of New York City. Our mission is to invite the world and energize the City, building equitable, sustainable economic prosperity and community through tourism for the mutual benefit of residents, businesses and visitors.

A 501(c) 6 private corporation, NYC Tourism + Conventions represents the interests of nearly 2,000 member organizations across the spectrum of businesses and organizations in the City.

NYC Tourism + Conventions provides resources for visitors to discover everything they need to know about what to do and see in New York City. In addition to an integrated market development team with a focus on group, meeting/convention, leisure and events-motivated travel, our communications network promotes visitation from around the globe. Together with satellite convention sales offices in the US to develop group business, our marketing efforts—both consumer and business facing—position the City to attract business and leisure travelers.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We respectfully acknowledge New York City as Lenapehoking—homeland of the Lenape people, who were subject to genocide, forced displacement and systemic oppression. As those charged with spreading a positive message of New York City to the world, NYC Tourism + Conventions recognizes we have not centered Indigenous people enough in our past work. Moving forward, we are committed to uplifting and supporting the voices of the federally recognized Lenape who now reside in Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Canada, and the Native American communities within the five boroughs. This statement represents one step in observing the history of our land and building meaningful relationships across cultures.

New York City Tourism + Conventions is committed to digital accessibility. Read our statement here .

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NYC & Company Rebrands as New York City Tourism + Conventions

The debut of the new name and brand system was launched in conjunction with a social campaign, #WHATSGOODNYC.

At its Annual Meeting, President and CEO Fred Dixon debuted the new name and brand identity of the City's official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the five boroughs of New York City: New York City Tourism + Conventions. The destination's new brand system aimed at travelers from around the world, includes a new brand strategy and comprehensive visual identity system comprised of a new logo, color standards, typography, art direction, and graphic elements.

The debut of the new name and brand system was launched in conjunction with a social campaign, #WHATSGOODNYC, harnessing the "opinion power" of the City's 8.5 million New Yorkers, offering them a chance to share their points of view on "what's good" and what to experience across the City's five boroughs. Tapping into travelers' desire for authentic experiences, the foundation and strength of the new branding comes from its genuine, enthusiastic perspectives shared by a diverse mix of locals, highlighting New York City Tourism + Conventions' role in amplifying these opinions to help travelers have a richer experience in NYC. The campaign offers insights, tips, recommended activities, and excursions through various channels to engage and encourage visitors and locals to explore all New York City has to offer.

"With over 56 million visitors to the five boroughs last year, fueling tens of billions of dollars in spending for our local economy, New York City is not coming back, it is back," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. "'New York City Tourism + Conventions' new branding reflects our city's energy and spirit and will make sure everyone knows that there's never been a better time to visit the greatest city in the world. I'm a five-borough mayor, and I look forward to seeing visitors all over the Big Apple this year."

"The introduction of our new name and brand system marks a significant moment for our organization," said Fred Dixon , President and CEO of New York City Tourism + Conventions. "Our new brand captures the essence of New York City in its entirety: an ever-expansive destination that offers diverse and authentic experiences that enrich the traveler and benefit all New Yorkers. This shift strategically positions us to continue leading the City's nearly $65 billion tourism economy. It makes clear our purpose and mission as the official tourism organization for one of the world's greatest destinations-our commitment to New York City has never been greater."

"We are excited about this brand evolution and for the organization's continued stewardship of New York City's tourism industry," said Charles Flateman , New York City Tourism + Conventions Board Chair and Executive Vice President of The Shubert Organization . "The creation of this new brand system was informed and supported by dozens of organizations and hundreds of individuals from the tourism industry including members and visitors alike. We look forward to working with all our partners and stakeholders to further the work of connecting local businesses, visitors and residents, and spreading the benefits of tourism across all five boroughs."

NYC based, global design consultancy 2x4 served as the creative partner on the extensive process to determine the new name and brand strategy, ensuring a name that represents the organization's mission clearly to the travel industry and consumers: to support New York City's travel and tourism economy and provide a deeper, richer more authentic experience of New York City for visitors. The structure, mission, and global network of New York City Tourism + Conventions remains the same as that of NYC & Company.

"We are an organization comprised of passionate New Yorkers who have deeply informed our new brand and how it comes to life to engage travelers from around the world," said Nancy Mammana, Chief Marketing Officer of New York City Tourism + Conventions. "Our new strategic direction, which includes a new website launching in May ( nyctourism.com ), social channels and media assets, will drive future marketing campaigns, content and partnerships. Through these exciting new changes, our intention is to create even greater engagement and value for travelers, partners and other stakeholders in a way that also ensures New York City remains a premier destination for business and leisure travel."

"When creating the visual identity system, we wanted to reflect the fabric of New York City, and the rhythm and energy that locals and tourists alike love most about it," said Elan Cole, Executive Vice President, Co-Lead, Creative/Content for New York City Tourism + Conventions. "In collaboration with our creative partners at 2x4, we created a system that reflects New York City itself, a place of unmatched diversity and culture that draws in and welcomes people from all over the world. Our new system represents this vibrancy and the abundance of experiences in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs."

The brand's visual identity system is inspired by the graphic heritage of the city as well as the works of artists and designers whom themselves were inspired by the five boroughs. The irregular shapes and intersections of the graphic elements and the logo-references to horizontal streets and vertical building shapes-play with contrast, expansion, and contraction to reflect the city's energy. The secondary color palette surveys New York City icons and associations, from Liberty Green, Taxi Yellow, and Ferry Orange to Lox Pink, Brownstone, and Rockaway Sand. More details are available at  nyctourism.com/rebrand .

New social media handles @nyctourism and @nyctourismnews will launch across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn encouraging New Yorkers and travelers alike to engage and share using the hashtag #WhatsGoodNYC.

New York City's economic recovery continued in 2022 with over 56 million travelers arriving in the City-a 72.5% increase over 2021. The City saw 9.4 million international travelers visit the five boroughs-more than triple the number in 2021. The City also hosted over 4 million business travelers signaling the return of this important segment. This activity marks the return of 85% of the City's record 2019 visitation levels.

The City remains on track to welcome 63.3 million visitors in 2023. The pace of tourism's rebound helps fuel New York City's economic recovery having supported approximately 340,000 jobs in the full leisure and hospitality sector, more than $40 billion in direct visitor spending and approximately $60 billion in total economic impact for 2022.

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New York City Tourism + Conventions is the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the City of New York, dedicated to maximizing travel and tourism opportunities throughout the five boroughs, building economic prosperity and spreading the positive image of New York City worldwide. For all there is to do and see in New York City, visit nyctourism.com

For more information, check out City Guides.

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NYC & Company Is Now NYC Tourism + Conventions

Photo: NYC Tourism + Conventions

The team at NYC & Company today announced a new name and brand identity for New York City’s official destination marketing arm: New York City Tourism + Conventions.

While the mission of the organization remains the same, the new brand name updates its visual identity with a new logo, new colors, and more.

NYC Tourism + Conventions worked with local global design consultancy firm 2x4 to design the new brand, which it says is “is inspired by the graphic heritage of the City as well as the works of artists and designers who themselves were inspired by the five boroughs.”

That includes irregular shapes and intersections within the graphic elements and logo, which reference the city’s streets, and a secondary color palette that surveys some of the city’s icons including Liberty Green, Taxi Yellow and Ferry Orange to Lox Pink, Brownstone, and Rockaway Sand.

Announcing the news on Tuesday, president and CEO of what is now New York City Tourism + Convention Fred Dixon called the move a “significant moment for our organization.”

“Our new brand captures the essence of New York City in its entirety: an ever-expansive destination that offers diverse and authentic experiences that enrich the traveler and benefit all New Yorkers. This shift strategically positions us to continue leading the City’s nearly $65 billion tourism economy. It makes clear our purpose and mission as the official tourism organization for one of the world’s greatest destinations—our commitment to New York City has never been greater.”

To celebrate the launch, the organization is changing its social media handles across platforms to @nyctourism and @nyctourismnews and is launching a new campaign on social media with the hashtag #WhatsGoodNYC.

New York City has experienced a strong recovery from the pandemic—the city registered over 56 million inbound travelers in 2022, a 72.5% increase from 2021. That includes 9.4 million international travelers, which is more than triple the number from 2021.

For 2023, the City is currently on pace to welcome 63.3 million visitors.

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NEW YORK CITY TOURISM + CONVENTIONS

Annual report 2022–23.

New York City Tourism + Conventions is the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the five boroughs of New York City. Our mission is to maximize travel and tourism opportunities throughout the City, build economic prosperity and spread the dynamic image of NYC around the world.

Letter from OUR Chairman and CEO

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Welcome to our 2023 Annual Report. It is hard to believe that three years have passed since the pandemic halted most travel and leisure activities around the world, resulting in an unprecedented 65% decline in visitation to New York City. Fortunately, we have since made huge strides toward recovery, and in 2022 we reached 85% of 2019 visitation levels. Spending, sector employment and economic impact also climbed back to the 85% range. The competitive environment, however, is making greater demands than ever on our marketing efforts. Our full recovery and a return to growth will require implementation of the strategies and investments you will read about in this report. As you will discover in this document, the return of visitors across the City demonstrated the effectiveness of one-time incremental funding in 2021 and 2022, which fueled promotions and media reach for our campaigns and marketing programs. With a constant focus on strategically driving leisure travel and business events, we made an impact for our members—businesses big and small—in neighborhoods in all five boroughs. NYC & Company was active throughout the year developing and delivering content that directly addresses the changing times in which we work. Celebrating the City’s diverse communities with award-winning stories, neighborhood insights, and a commitment to equity and accessibility in the industry and our organization, our efforts connected to local and global visitors in traditional media and emerging channels. Our “always on” press and communications initiatives produced stories in dozens of languages, across hundreds of outlets in our most important markets. Thirty press conferences, 350 media visits, 17,000 influenced press stories and the reestablishment of international representation all proved key to the strategic and welcoming stories that reach millions of travelers and potential visitors. Throughout 2022, the Convention Development and Tourism Development teams were back in action, attending trade shows, organizing sales missions and rebuilding our networks and relationships. FAM trips and reverse sales missions brought key decision makers and buyers into the City to see and experience the opportunities directly. New business leads, RFPs and committed dates and groups are the result. As always, at the heart of our initiatives are the NYC & Company member businesses and organizations. Last year, 2022, saw the return of popular networking events that connect local businesses and create opportunities and a full calendar of education programs, including Tourism Ready, sustainable travel, accessible travel and new ways to engage with the market. Membership benefits included a new Monthly Tourism Barometer and frequent segment updates. Now we look to new, dedicated and sustainable funding and marketing opportunities that will allow us to keep performing at the highest level for the industry. As the market changes, so must we. In 2023, we are introducing a new brand to meet this new moment. Its success will require a sustained promotional effort and close collaboration with our members and community, but we remain committed as always to shared success. We look forward to working alongside you as New York City Tourism + Conventions to restore our industry’s economic prosperity and to continue growing the positive impact visitor spending makes across New York City. As always, thank you for your partnership and support. ‍ Charles Flateman Chairman New York City Tourism + Conventions Executive Vice President The Shubert Organization Fred Dixon President and CEO New York City Tourism + Conventions

ELEVATING NYC TOURISM

Our city, our culture and our industry have been impacted by profound change. This rebrand aims to evolve our sense of purpose and mission as we strengthen our relevance as the official tourism board for the five boroughs of New York City.

A New Brand to Meet a New Moment

As representatives of the City to the world, we recognize that the role we play in supporting it and helping it thrive has never been more important. As business and leisure travel recover, our efforts to restore demand, rebuild the tourism economy and drive visitation into all five boroughs is critical to local businesses and residents alike.   We have reaffirmed our mission to best serve the future of the destination and to lead NYC’s tourism industry.   We have reassessed and reaffirmed our mission to best serve this city and lead NYC’s tourism industry. Through extensive research and feedback, we found our identity needed a clearer connection to tourism, a simplified brand architecture that integrated B2C and B2B seamlessly, a coherent visual identity independent of city government, a tone more authentic to NYC and a renewed commitment to spread the economic benefits of tourism across communities and boroughs. This effort had to start with us clarifying to all our audiences—visitors, residents, stakeholders and partners in government—who we are, what we do and how our work benefits the five boroughs in the most equitable and responsible ways possible.

This is why we are now New York City Tourism + Conventions . With our new brand system, we will strengthen our relevance as the official tourism board for the world’s greatest destination.

Our Brand Strategy

The tourism authority of the five boroughs of ​New York City.

The economy, culture and spirit of New York City are fueled by the constant flow of energy, ideas and activity of locals and visitors alike.

Our members and the broader tourism industry of New York City.

Official tourism representation of the five boroughs of NYC around the world.

Connection of the tourism and hospitality industries to government.

A vast membership representing every borough and sector of the City's tourism economy.

A wealth of data and insight on travel in NYC.

A complete ecosystem of promotion, tools and business building programs.

The support and partnership of City Hall.

To help make New York City the most vital, diverse, equitable, exciting, accessible, energetic, vibrant, creative, welcoming city on earth.

To invite the world and energize the City, building equitable, sustainable economic prosperity and community through tourism for the mutual benefit of residents, businesses and visitors.

Equity Authenticity Resilience

Vibrant Welcoming Real

Connection​ Empowerment​ Amplification

Introducing New York City Tourism + Conventions to the World

In recent years, New York City has had to put its core qualities on display. Difficult as they have been, the challenges of the pandemic also highlighted the strength, resilience, authenticity and beauty of the five boroughs around the globe. ‍ As we roll out the new branding in the coming months, our mission remains to support New York City’s travel and tourism economy. In the process, we will continue to provide business and leisure visitors alike with a deeper, richer and more authentic experience of NYC. In so doing, we will seek out the support of New Yorkers themselves, actively engaging residents through a variety of activations and channels to assist all neighborhoods across the City in benefiting from inbound travel. Visitors and New Yorkers share an abiding love for New York City. They have an opportunity to help each other by coming together to amplify the benefits of exploring the City across all boroughs, communities, neighborhoods and businesses. It is our role to foster and facilitate that connection. Our brand launch campaign will use new digital tools, platform strategies and technologies to provocatively curate, target, personalize and deliver local points of view on the best ways to participate in the awe and wonder of being a visitor in New York City, and directly support the local economy.​ 

Our New Brand Manifesto

New York City is the greatest destination the world has ever produced. Ablaze at a distance, this town is lit up at street level with a trillion possible experiences at any given moment. This electric promise, five boroughs full, attracts day-trippers, bucket list-ers, sightseers, first-timers, on-the-regulars, frequent-fliers and meetings-and-convention-ers. They come for the buzz of being right where it’s all happening.  ​ But what is happening? And where is it?​  Well, that’s a matter of opinion. The must-try bagels, pizza, ramen, roti, Caribbean bake and sunrise coffee. The can’t-miss symphonies, DJs spinning vinyl, hip-hop haircuts, sonic oases and visual mosh pits. The best corner for this. The fastest route to that. The once-in-a-lifetime performances on Broadway, Off-Broadway and nowhere near Broadway in four other boroughs. The vibrant beaches, bodegas, dining rooms and dance halls. Which way to all the Little Italys, Indias, Brazils, Sri Lankas, Chinatowns, night markets, daytime discos and barrio barbecues? What cross streets for high-end streetwear, curated thrift and fabulous couture? What’s happening in Brooklyn? When in Queens? Where in Staten Island? Who in the Bronx? How in Manhattan?​  Pound for pound, there is nothing better than a 100% authentic NYC point of view to help visitors navigate this abundance. And fortunately—we New Yorkers aren’t shy about sharing. We are New York City Tourism + Conventions. As passionately opinionated New Yorkers ourselves, we know firsthand that the culture, spirit and economy of New York City fuel the constant flow of energy, ideas and activity of millions upon millions of perspectives. We rely on this “opinion power” to connect visitors to more profound and exhilarating NYC experiences across all five boroughs. By doing this, we help bring equitable, sustainable prosperity and community through tourism for the mutual benefit of all New Yorkers. 

Our new website, launching in Phase 2 of the rebrand this spring, will offer a compelling way to experience NYC Tourism + Conventions. With immersive video to place potential visitors directly into the heart of New York City, as well as intuitive design and an enormous breadth of inspirational and wayfinding content, nyctourism.com will serve as our new calling card—a first point of contact for visitors, near and far, to explore what the City has to offer, plan their trips and learn about our diverse communities. The site will also feature redesigned and refreshed sections for our membership, meeting planners, the travel trade and the media, along with areas for other stakeholders—all enticing ways for our partners to engage with us.

Insights on 2022 Tourism

The tourism and convention industry in New York City faced external challenges throughout 2022 ranging from economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures and the strong dollar to the ongoing risk of Covid-19. Even so, as was shown in the first two years of the pandemic, destination marketing and visitation in New York City is a case study in travel resurgence resting on creativity, energy and smart choices. After nearly two full years of pandemic disruption, the industry’s recovery momentum was interrupted temporarily by a surge in Covid cases due to the Omicron variant. Through January and well into February 2022, shows were canceled or postponed, hotel demand fell and people preferred to stay at home. While the interruption turned out to be short-lived, it did influence key indicators.  

Note: All figures, estimates and forecasts are subject to revision as conditions develop and additional data become available. Numbers may not sum due to rounding. Source: NYC & Company as of March 2023.

Hotel Performance

As we can see in the hotel data, the year started well below seasonal expectations. From near record lows in January (38% occupancy) and pandemic drops in room rates ($121), the hotel sector experienced steadily rising demand, returning and new inventory, rising occupancy rates and strong ADR increases. Traveling along seasonal trends, hotel indicators came back strongly. The year-end average occupancy rose to 74.4%, just 14% off pre-pandemic record levels. At the same time, ADR topped $286, 10% above 2019 peaks.

NYC Visitation—International & Domestic

Looking at visitation performance for the full year, the results reinforce the strong signs of recovery. By December 2022, with domestic visitation still responding to a major investment in advertising, leisure and even transient business travel levels were strong. At the same time, new investments and targeted messaging focused on key international markets were bringing more travelers to the City. The effects could be seen across the five boroughs. Even facing the retreat in January and February, the City hosted more than 56.7 million visitors who traveled 50 miles or more or stayed at least one night. By March, picking up with spring holiday travel and leading into the summer, visitation from domestic markets reached 47.3 million and international markets hit 9.4 million. Comparing 2022 results to the pre-pandemic benchmark, however, international travel still lags, down 31% from 2019 levels. The quicker return of domestic visitors pulled up the overall market, now just 15% below record levels. Strong day and overnight domestic travel supported the hotel demand and was a driver to museums, theater, concerts and tourist attractions, as well as a year-over-year increase in visitor spending on dining out and shopping.

NYC Visitation—Business & Leisure

Shifting our focus to the business and leisure segments, we see a similar split. Business travel, a key driver of hotel nights and event spending, climbed back to hit a 15% share of total trips. With 8.9 million business trips in 2022, visitation was almost 5 million below 2019 levels. The convention market, facing more tactical and financial obstacles, slowed this segment’s recovery pace. Smaller meetings and transient business travel were key to growth. The pattern looked different for leisure travel as the pandemic risks and regulations eased in the second quarter of 2022. Long-haul trips and extended weekend stays helped bring the year-end total to 47.8 million visitors, almost 90% of the 2019 record levels.

Key International Markets

Digging deeper into the international markets, the overall positive results benefited from a very successful advertising campaign in global markets during the first half of the year. Not only did it lift travel in the short-term, but the benefits of raising awareness played out through the year; 2022 saw the UK and Canada return to top positions among the international markets, attracting over 1.5 million visitors to NYC. There was notable strong performance from historically important European and Latin American markets filling out the list of top markets. France, Germany, Spain and Italy together were at 75% of benchmark 2019 levels. In the Americas, Brazil and Mexico led the market bringing almost 900,000 visits. Across the Pacific, Australia and India were top performers.

New Airports—More Flights and Capacity

The correlation between New York City’s position as the largest and most popular gateway to the US and our top international markets is highlighted in the table of scheduled flights as of March 2023. The strength of our air capacity is one of our greatest assets.  With more than 2,835 international flights a week into the region’s three airports, the conditions are strong to foster continued inbound growth.

Campaigns That Make a Difference

As always, our tourism and promotional campaigns play a significant role by encouraging locals and travelers to discover iconic sights and events across the five boroughs. Our team’s creative and strategic efforts have helped the City’s vibrant culture and unique experiences remain top of mind for anyone seeking to experience the best of NYC.

Our Award-Winning Global Tourism Campaign

Our largest-ever multiphase marketing campaign, It’s Time for New York City SM , has been a domestic and international success, putting NYC and our members front of mind for audiences around the world. With the affiliation of key travel partners in more than 15 markets, the 2021–2022 iteration drove more than 2.3 million trips and nearly $6 billion in visitor spending across the five boroughs. For the first iteration of the campaign, New York City Tourism + Conventions created a television campaign, which earned our team one of our two 2022 Emmy Awards. 

Following that success, the campaign creative was refreshed for 2022–2023 (again featuring the City’s beacon of welcome, Lady Liberty) and launched domestically, with United Airlines and Amtrak as partners, and internationally in 18 markets. A symbolic sign of recovery, the campaign refresh coincided with Lady Liberty celebrating 136 years and the crown at the Statue of Liberty reopening to the public for the first time since its shutdown in 2020. This new phase of the campaign continues to drive overnight visitation, increase travelers’ awareness of New York City and act as a reminder to audiences worldwide that there is no better time than the present to experience the City’s lively energy. We’ve established mutually beneficial partnerships through cobranded OOH and paid digital efforts, showcasing discounted fares and appealing packages from airlines, tour operators and other key travel partners. Our media has been spotted in every corner of the globe, showcasing our bright pink Lady Liberty creative on billboards, digital advertisements, bus shelters, baggage claims and more.

Our partners have taken a comprehensive and multifaceted approach to promoting all five boroughs, and their efforts have proven successful in attracting visitors to all areas of the City. They’ve curated customized newsletters, airport gate/lounge displays, travel magazines and in-flight literature, social media and more. As of March 2023, we’ve garnered over 400 million impressions and 7 million clicks from our digital ad campaign, resulting in tens of thousands of confirmed trips to the City so far. We will conduct another SMARI media attribution study at the end of the campaign, but our partners’ interim booking reports have shown extremely promising results:

• In Canada, Porter Airlines has reported an 85% increase in flight bookings to New York City.    
• America Unlimited, our German partner, has seen a 40% lift in bookings and an 80% increase in customer spending on New York City packages.  
• In Italy, the tour operator Turisanda has nearly doubled their seats booked to NYC via Neos Air.

We look forward to the continued success of this campaign through its completion in June.

The Best of the Five Boroughs: NYC Like a New Yorker

Our NYC Like a New Yorker campaign took geographical nouns, like “Queens,” and transformed them into verbs, speaking to the dynamism that is the core of the energy of the five boroughs. The aim was to encourage travelers to explore neighborhoods across the five boroughs—particularly those that may be lesser known. While the It’s Time for New York City campaign invited out-of-town and international audiences to visit the destination, NYC Like a New Yorker spoke to those who were already here in the five boroughs. We developed a multichannel marketing and communications effort aimed at supporting small businesses around NYC and lifting BIPOC- and women-owned enterprises, so that all experienced the economic benefits of our industry. Running from April to August 2022, the program featured one borough each month in a press release that showcased its essential neighborhood attractions and characteristics. This campaign was recognized by the U.S. Travel Association with the 2022 Destiny Award for “The Road Less Traveled” in August 2022.

NYC Local Legends

In our NYC Local Legends video series, notable New Yorkers share their perspectives on some of the five boroughs’ most vibrant and culturally rich neighborhoods. These five-to-seven-minute documentary-style videos feature our “legends” introducing other key neighborhood figures who add color to what makes the neighborhood special, creating an immersive experience with each episode. The series is part of our mission to offer more nuanced, personal perspectives on the City and highlight the wealth of NYC’s local businesses, particularly those that are women- and minority-owned, in order to encourage visitors to patronize them. The video series is supported by a robust marketing plan that includes organic and paid social, our consumer newsletter, LinkNYC screens, native ads and more.

In our first episode, released in December, Michael “DJ Spynfo” Eagen—celebrated DJ and owner of Sankofa Haus—shows us around the neighborhood of Mott Haven. As the South Bronx native explores the area, he connects with friends, reflects on the neighborhood’s progression from the 1970s to present day, discusses the area being the birthplace of hip-hop and graffiti and visits some of the authentic offerings spearheaded by locals, including Beatstro, Chocobar Cortés, Bronx Native and Rosa’s at Park. The video has garnered 1.5 million views to date with over 30 million impressions across our channels. In late January, we launched our second episode featuring We Run Uptown cofounder Hector Espinal Jr., who shows viewers around Washington Heights. Other episodes to be released in 2023 focus on neighborhoods in each of the other three boroughs: Jackson Heights, Queens; Stapleton, Staten Island; and Flatbush, Brooklyn. We will continue to explore other neighborhoods—and their history, culture and offerings—through the eyes of locals.

Celebrating the City’s Cuisines with Savor NYC

Launched in July of 2022 as part of the celebrations around the 30th anniversary of NYC Restaurant Week® and running through June of 2023, Savor NYC SM is an ongoing content platform that places a focus on the City’s incredible dining scene to firmly reinforce NYC’s reputation as the dining capital of the world. This content provides an all-encompassing resource for locals and visitors, complete with monthly themes that highlight distinct cuisines, multicultural neighborhoods, seasonal dining and culinary offers. In addition, Savor NYC showcases major citywide events and holidays through a culinary lens. In August, we featured a preview of fall restaurant openings and a wrap-up of outdoor dining. For September, we put a spotlight on sustainable dining and gathered a roundup of eco-conscious eateries focused on minimizing their impact on the planet. In October, we focused on Latino-owned eateries in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month and, separately, collaborated with a charming Instagram creator named Skelly, a 3.5-inch-tall skeleton who starred in a series of animated GIFs with NYC-made Halloween-themed treats. For November, we focused on dining options near holiday attractions; in December, we highlighted foods that only NYC “does right”—pizza, bagels and chopped cheese among them. More recent features included a Chinatown dining guide timed to coincide with Lunar New Year in January; a roundup of Black-owned restaurants for Black History Month; and a focus on women chefs for Women’s History Month.   The initiative includes culinary-themed press outreach, cross-promotion of our dining content on LinkNYC screens and through our social and email channels, and the creation of social-first dining content including a partnership with local creators Righteous Eats. (For more on the collaboration, see the Social section .) To date, Savor NYC has resulted in over 137,000 unique page views, with some of the most popular dining content being NYC Dining 101, our overview of the City’s restaurant scene.

IConic Sector Programs

Our hallmark shoulder-season initiatives continue to prove their value to members and visitors. We kicked off the fiscal year with the 30th anniversary of NYC Restaurant Week and recently concluded the fourth iteration of NYC Winter Outing SM , which groups together the City’s best deals. This May, we’ll also be launching a reenvisioned It’s Time for Culture SM program—New York City Tourism + Conventions’ newest addition to its vibrancy program portfolio. We are grateful to Commissioner Anne del Castillo and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment for their continued financial support of NYC Restaurant Week, NYC Broadway Week SM and NYC Off-Broadway Week SM .

NYC Restaurant Week’s 30th Anniversary

NYC Restaurant Week celebrated its 30th anniversary in the summer of 2022, offering prix-fixe menus at $30, $45 and $60 for lunch or dinner. More than 650 restaurants across the five boroughs took part in the program, including 15 of the original participants from 1992. As always, the program encouraged locals and visitors to explore the City’s vast, diverse and accessible restaurant scene while helping to support small businesses, the industry and its workers.

We executed several initiatives to commemorate the program’s third decade, including a press conference at Gage & Tollner—one of the oldest restaurants in New York City and an original 1992 Restaurant Week participant—which featured an appearance by Mayor Eric Adams. On August 3, our CMO, Nancy Mammana, rang the opening bell at Nasdaq MarketSite to commemorate the occasion. She was joined by our staff; the Co-Chairs of our Culinary Committee, David Burke and Tren’ness Woods-Black; and our NYC Restaurant Week marketing partners. It was an exciting day and a boost that generated even more exposure during the middle of the five-week program. For the first time ever, New York City Tourism + Conventions and Mastercard® partnered with Citizens Bank to further support the program. Additional partners of NYC Restaurant Week included Stella Artois, Wine Spectator , James Beard Foundation, OpenTable, the NYC Wine & Food Festival, Amtrak and Cobble. As our preferred payment partner, Mastercard provided a statement credit to registered cardholders, enabling them to receive $10 cash back on bills of $45 or more when dining at participating restaurants during the first two weeks of the program. They reported $893,288 from NYC Restaurant Week transactions, which translated into nearly $70,000 in statement credit rebates for the consumers. In total, the summer program drove 1.37 million landing page visits (32% higher than in summer 2021) and delivered 155 million impressions on our out-of-home ads, valued at $857,280, and 57 million impressions for our digital paid media resulting in 33,000 total estimated reservations.

NYC Broadway Week

The fall iteration of NYC Broadway Week returned for the first time since 2019 between September 6–25, 2022, once again offering 2-for-1 tickets to 22 of Broadway’s vibrant productions. The season’s lineup included newer shows like Funny Girl , Into the Woods , The Kite Runner , The Piano Lesson and Six . In partnership with The Broadway League and Mastercard, NYC Broadway Week was promoted on Mastercard’s Priceless.com platform, out-of-home media across the five boroughs and commercials running in NYC taxicabs. It was also promoted through New York City Tourism + Conventions social media channels using both original and user-generated content, pegged to the hashtag #NYCBroadwayWeek. Additional marketing partners of NYC Broadway Week included Citizens Bank, Ticketmaster and Telecharge. New York City Tourism + Conventions’ marketing efforts drove 689,000 landing page visits and 360,000 “buy now” visits (a 52% conversion rate) for NYC Broadway Week. We delivered 48.5 million impressions on our out-of-home ads, valued at $561,142, and over 5.7 million impressions for our digital paid media. Total sales for the program were $9,296,644 (124,013 tickets).

NYC Winter Outing 2023

NYC Winter Outing, our umbrella campaign for our signature vibrancy programs (NYC Restaurant Week, NYC Broadway Week, NYC Must-See Week SM and NYC Hotel Week SM ), invited visitors and locals to explore the best of the five boroughs by positioning the winter as a prime time to take advantage of the City’s best deals. This year’s edition began January 17 and ran through February 12. The savings encompassed discounted hotel rooms, prix-fixe menus and 2-for-1 ticket offers for Broadway shows, museums, attractions, performing arts and tours across all five boroughs. Each of our individual NYC Winter Outing programs, as well as the umbrella campaign, were promoted via SEM, a strategic programmatic digital campaign, printed and digital bus shelters, LinkNYC screens, commercials running in NYC taxicabs, press efforts and on our own website, as well as in our social and email channels. NYC Restaurant Week was also promoted with a two-page spread in The New York Times .

This year, we expanded our marketing partners exponentially to support our NYC Winter Outing program. Mastercard, as in previous years, was our preferred payment partner for the program, bringing in Citizens Bank once again as a key issuer. United Airlines joined us as an official partner; combined with Amtrak, NJ TRANSIT and MTA, we provided a robust variety of transportation options into New York City to facilitate travel for visitors who want to enjoy everything the programs have to offer. Most metrics for NYC Winter Outing 2023 surpassed 2022 and even 2019 benchmarks. NYC Broadway Week 2023 was our second highest grossing program with over $12 million in ticket sales. Website traffic to the individual program pages surpassed previous years, and over 700 organizations participated in NYC Winter Outing 2023 overall, including Broadway shows, museums, restaurants and attractions.

NYC Restaurant Week

Over 520 restaurants participated in the winter edition of this program, representing 86 neighborhoods and 48 cuisines. Mastercard once again provided a statement credit to registered cardholders, enabling them to receive $10 cash back on bills of $45 or more when dining on prix-fixe meals at a $30, $45 or $60 price point. Mastercard reported $980,365 in card spend from NYC Restaurant Week transactions, which translates into $95,000 in statement credit rebates for consumers. In total, the winter program drove 1.1 million landing page visits (19% higher than in winter 2022) and delivered 122 million impressions on our out-of-home ads, valued at $622,368, and 24 million impressions for our digital paid media resulting in 35,900 total estimated reservations.

NYC Broadway Week 2023 was our second-highest grossing iteration of this program with 154,364 tickets sold for $12,373,968 for 22 participating shows. This represented 14% of Broadway’s total revenue during these four weeks. Nearly a third of tickets were sold to visitors coming from at least 50 miles away. In total, the winter program drove 1.06 million landing page visits (21% higher than in winter 2022) and delivered 56 million impressions on our out-of-home ads, valued at $574,395, and 10.2 million impressions for our digital paid media.

NYC Must-See Week

This program supported the breadth of attractions, museums, tours and performing arts that can be found only in NYC. NYC Must-See Week had 50 participants in winter 2023, including many of the City’s icons and cultural institutions as well as tours and experiences throughout all five boroughs. The 2-for-1 ticket offer drove 327,000 landing page visits (48.5% higher than in winter 2022) and delivered 52.6 million impressions on our out-of-home ads, valued at $556,296, and 4.4 million impressions for our digital paid media.

NYC Hotel Week

Over 150 hotels offered a 23% discount on rooms for stays between January 3 and February 12, 2023. Reservations opened on November 15, 2022, which was two months prior to the public booking dates for the other programs. This early booking period was designed to give travelers who needed to plan ahead plenty of time to take advantage of the NYC Winter Outing offers. In total, the program drove 225,000 landing page visits (66% higher than in winter 2022) and delivered 101 million impressions on our out-of-home ads, valued at $1,030,082, and 12 million impressions for our digital paid media.

NYC Off-Broadway Week

The fall iteration of this program invited New Yorkers and visitors to experience Off-Broadway theater with 2-for-1 tickets to 30 participating shows. The fall program sold 4,706 tickets for $196,000 (data includes 18 shows). It ran from September 26 through October 9, 2022, driving 140,000 landing page visits (21% higher than in fall 2019) and delivered over 40 million impressions on our out-of-home ads, valued at $398,445, and 4.8 million impressions for our digital paid media. Immediately following NYC Winter Outing, the winter 2023 edition of NYC Off-Broadway Week launched with 26 participating shows. Both programs were generously supported by Mastercard and The Off-Broadway League. Media included a programmatic digital campaign, SEM, paid e-blasts, printed and digital bus shelters, LinkNYC screens, press efforts and NYCgo social and email channels. During the winter, the 2-for-1 ticket offer drove 137,000 landing page visits (41% higher than in winter 2022) and delivered over 48 million impressions on our out-of-home ads, valued at $445,000, and 5 million impressions for our digital paid media.

Diversity & Partnerships

With a city of over 8 million people from all walks of life, a collaborative approach that embraces different perspectives and backgrounds is crucial for creating an inclusive, welcoming destination. This past year, we recommitted to fostering and uplifting this approach through content, a variety of partnership initiatives and the support of our valued partners.

Celebrating the City’s Diverse Cultures  

The breadth and depth of culture and diversity found in New York City is unmatched anywhere else in the world. We are committed to providing a platform for the communities that contribute to them. In 2022, we created meaningful—and award-winning—content to celebrate the history and experiences of NYC’s multicultural communities. Mastercard and Crescent Rating’s 2022 Global Muslim Travel Index projects that there will be 140 million Muslim travelers in 2023, and this segment will reach 160 million by 2024—an important sector for the City. In February 2022, we released The Halal Travel Guide in an effort to promote New York City as a Muslim-friendly destination and to welcome Muslim travelers. Later in the year, we released an Arabic-language version of the guide. We are the first US tourism organization to create a dedicated resource for Muslim travelers, winning the Halal Travel Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Halal in Travel Awards by Crescent Rating. Our “Freedom to Be” film featuring the Rockaways’ Black surfing community in Queens won an Emmy Award, while the whole series was named a Webby Honoree in the Video–Documentary category. The Black Experience content hub was promoted in a branded content partnership with Group Black/Essence.com with banner ads, video ads, custom branded articles, newsletters, social media and influencer extensions across Instagram and TikTok. The campaign overdelivered, garnering 36 million impressions digitally and 33 million impressions via influencers.

In February 2023, we launched a photo-and-interview-based feature on our website, “Rising Stars of the Black Community,” timed to coincide with Black History Month. The series featured an inspiring cast of local creators who speak to the opportunities for and diversity within NYC’s Black community. Supported by paid media, earned media and our owned channels—email, social and website—the interviews have received 9,000 impressions to date. We also partnered with Black Gotham Experience and New York City’s Public Design Commission on “Epicenter,” a film that covers the history of NYC’s three City Halls through the lens of Black New Yorkers. The film, which highlights these too-often untold narratives, launched at City Hall in early February. It was supported via organic promotion over our owned channels and LinkNYC media, as well as through publicity efforts, including an organized tour for Travel + Leisure Editor in Chief Jacqui Gifford. The Latino Experience in NYC was named a Webby Honoree in Websites and Mobile Sites–Diversity & Inclusion. Newer published pieces include stories that highlight the vibrancy of Latino culture in the Bronx including a business roundup spotlighting over 20 Latino-owned businesses in the area and a profile on Puerto Rican musician Miguel Angel “Mike” Amadeo, owner of Bronx icon Casa Amadeo—the oldest continuously run music store in New York City. We launched a new platform video for The Asian Experience in NYC in time for AAPI Heritage Month in May, spotlighting the diversity within the Asian community and its many contributions to the City. In addition to neighborhood and cultural guides, other content includes a “Guide to Asian-Owned Bookstores” and features like “What We’ve Built: Leaders in the AAPI Community,” which focuses on four Asian American New Yorkers, the stories behind their businesses and the sense of community that they foster within their areas and throughout NYC.  The Latino Experience and The Asian Experience content hubs were promoted via Meta ads, Google search, programmatic and more to potential first-time and repeat visitors to NYC, along with people considering a city vacation and Latino and Asian communities with an interest in exploring their culture through travel. The campaign ran from June 30 to October 31, 2022, and garnered over 45 million impressions, 283,000 link clicks and 1.5 million video views. Aside from these multicultural platforms, we continue to uplift diverse voices throughout our content, such as our feature on Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Randall’s Island, spotlight on women-run restaurants and more. 

DEI Initiatives

With an ongoing goal of ensuring that NYC is the world's most welcoming and inclusive destination, our internal DEI Advisory Board and member-facing IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) Committee have held a series of cultural webinars and trainings for our staff and our members. These included a Latin American Heritage Webinar, a Native American Heritage Webinar, a hip-hop themed Black History Month webinar, gender bias training with The Band of Sisters, gender expansive training with GET Phluid and more. These cultural webinars and trainings around diverse communities will continue, as well as the introduction of additional in-person offerings—including panels and cultural celebrations. The DEI Advisory Board also developed a land acknowledgement statement with representatives from the Lenape Center to recognize our residence on the homeland of the Lenape people and our commitment to uplifting Indigenous stories and history more in the future.

Accessible NYC 

Accessibility is critical to our efforts to promote the City. In the lead-up to our website relaunch, we are partnering with longtime consultants Peter Slatin of The Slatin Group and Lakshmee Lachhman-Persad of Accessible Travel NYC (and a member of our board of directors) to create and update content to inspire visitors and help them navigate the City once they arrive. In addition, we are working with Level Access, a digital accessibility consultant service, to ensure our digital channels meet or exceed Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Accessibility is one of our forthcoming new website’s fundamentals, and we will continue to update, iterate and innovate with this audience firmly in mind. We also partnered with Mr. Slatin and Ms. Lachhman-Persad to deliver a series of four trainings on accessibility for our staff. The invigorating sessions focused on defining disability and accessibility, and internal and external relations with respect to accessibility. As with our other verticals, our ongoing accessibility content work continues, including a guide to Disability Pride events in NYC and “Accessible NYC Dining,” a guide to restaurants in NYC for those with disabilities. We also updated our “Guide to NYC Observatories,” as well as the accessibility filter for summer NYC Restaurant Week. Our members heard from our partners as we hosted a virtual New York City Tourism + Conventions Talks entitled “ADA at 32. Learn. Share. Hire!” Given the steady recovery of tourism and the challenge of recruiting and retaining staff for hospitality businesses, we brought together experts in disability employment who discussed the benefits of hiring workers with disabilities.  

To continue supporting NYC as the world’s number one LGBTQ+ destination, our Tourism Development team collaborated with Heritage of Pride and Pride organizations across the five boroughs. We expanded efforts as a global partner with the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) by joining their Featured Destination program, which provides heightened recognition and visibility among LGBTQ+ travelers and year-round access to enhanced marketing and communication opportunities throughout the association’s worldwide network. The team reached over 1,100 members of the trade through the US-Mexico Travel & Tourism Forum and the Visit USA Brazil LGBTQ Panel + Marketplace and welcomed back PROUD Experiences to New York City (a Reed Exhibitions showcase for luxury travel). During PROUD Experiences, our Press team held a briefing for LGBTQ+ media during the trade show.  As for our marketing efforts, NYC Pride 2022 (the first in-person edition of the event since the pandemic began) served as a tentpole moment to drive overnight visitation and reengage with our LGBTQ+ audience. Featuring the line “It’s Time for NYC Pride,” the campaign was promoted throughout June on static and digital bus shelters, LinkNYC screens and at a viewing event we hosted during the NYC Pride March for media, partners and the travel trade. We also launched a robust paid digital campaign that incorporated Meta, paid search and both site direct and programmatic buys through Rivendell Media, Q.Digital and Pride Media, reaching LGBTQ Nation, Queerty and GayCities. Amtrak also promoted the campaign at amtrak.com/nyc and on their Instagram Stories as part of our larger partnership in the Northeast. The campaign generated 24 million impressions, 181,000 link clicks and 2.6 million video views. LGBTQ+ content was also created for Pride 2022 and throughout the year. Pieces published on our website included “How to Celebrate NYC Pride 2022,” a five-borough guide to LGBTQ+ celebrations in the City; “Pride Arts and Culture Events”; and a profile of Ginger’s, a lesbian bar, safe space and community hangout in Park Slope, Brooklyn.  LGBTQ+ audiences in the US, Mexico, Canada and the UK are targeted year-round as part of our borough content amplification program, where we leverage programmatic native display to reach consumers during moments of intent while they engage with contextually relevant content across the web. This media drives awareness and generates interest in diverse experiences around the five boroughs.  Efforts to support the LGBTQ+ travel segment around the world continued in 2023. We participated in an LGBTQ+ panel at Professional Convention Management Association Convening Leaders in January. The Tourism team followed World PRIDE celebrations in Sydney with a sales mission to New Zealand and Australia, where we hosted a client event with LGBTQ+ travel buyers. In February 2023, the team was in India for IGLTA’s first-ever travel symposium in the country.

Strategic Partnerships 

Our partnerships have allowed us to expand the reach of our content and provide incremental support to our member businesses in promotion of the five boroughs.

Our partnership with Mastercard continues to support our efforts to attract visitors who seek deeper exploration of the City. They are the preferred payment partner of all our signature marketing programs: NYC Winter Outing, NYC Restaurant Week, NYC Broadway Week, NYC Off-Broadway Week, NYC Must-See Week and NYC Hotel Week. Their presales, supporting early access to these programs and statement credit for NYC Restaurant Week, provide valuable support during key need periods.

Ongoing Promotional Partnerships

In 2022, we partnered with organizations such as Carib Biz Network, the Asian American International Film Festival and Green Book Global to highlight our multicultural articles and videos and increase our website traffic within the Latino, Asian and Black communities. We also promoted our Halal Travel Guide through a collaboration with The Halal Guys restaurant franchise and the play The Kite Runner. In the fall, we partnered with Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote their weeklong return to Brooklyn. The first airing on September 26, 2022, was the show’s most viewed telecast in Brooklyn since 2018. It reached over 1.6 million viewers and featured notable New Yorkers such as Tracy Morgan, Ben Stiller and Amy Schumer. The partnership leveraged our out-of-home media assets in exchange for placement of our It’s Time for New York City creative in an on-air bumper on the September 27 broadcast. Another meaningful partnership was with Little Amal Walks, a 12-foot-tall puppet representing a 10-year-old Syrian refugee, which walked throughout the five boroughs and participated in over 55 events put on by various NYC arts and culture organizations, showcasing our city's spirit of welcome and hope. We continue to collaborate with annual tentpole events like the Chelsea Film Festival, New York Comedy Festival, New York City Wine & Food Festival, The Armory Show, PaleyWKND and the US Open to showcase our city’s offerings to passionate audiences interested in music, art and culture.

Sustainability

Honoring our ongoing commitment to sustainability, we partnered with Climate Week NYC—the biggest global climate event of its kind—and The Nest Summit to bring together influential leaders in climate action from business, government and the climate community as they returned to an in-person program in September 2022 at the Javits Center. We produced a main stage event at The Nest with the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) addressing the role tourism can play in supporting biodiversity. ‍ Many of our members joined us in commemorating the start of Climate Week NYC with building lightings that turned the NYC skyline green. We amplified appearances made by Frankie the Dinosaur, the UN’s climate change mascot, during Climate Week NYC events as he promoted his “Don’t Choose Extinction” campaign. The week concluded with us joining the Climate Week NYC team at the ringing of the Nasdaq closing bell. We also partnered with Global Citizen Festival for its 10th anniversary, advocating for critical issues such as climate change, poverty and inequality.  We are proud to serve on the U.S. Travel Association Sustainable Travel Coalition to inform US travel on sustainability issues in NYC and develop best practices to achieve a more sustainable future for the tourism industry.

Bringing NYC to the World

Our diverse inbound market mix has always set New York City apart from other destinations, and we were proud to fully reestablish our pre-pandemic global reach over the course of the last year. Following the February 2023 appointment of our newest agency in China, we once again have 17 expert teams representing New York City across travel trade, public relations, marketing and MICE, in 28 countries on five continents.

Spreading the NYC Message Globally

As part of our “always on” media relations efforts, our Communications team engages journalists at home and around the world to proactively shape messaging about New York City and manage reactive and crisis communications efforts. Throughout 2022, we welcomed hundreds of media from across the country and around the world back to NYC, connecting them and their readers with all that NYC has to offer, from iconic sites, attractions and new openings to local neighborhood experiences and small businesses found only in the five boroughs.  Over the past year, we reached media in target markets through nearly 30 in-market press conferences, missions and media marketplace events globally, as well as here on the ground in NYC. We also supported more than 350 media visits, including 10 group familiarization trips, inviting travel writers and influencers to experience the vibrancy, diversity and dynamism of NYC in person. 

Press Releases, Newsletters & Fact Sheets  

We globally distributed 50 press releases to the media and participated in more than 100 media deskside meetings, shaping stories with information on new and seasonal activities and events, including “What’s New in New York City” quarterly fact sheets, highlighting our members across the five boroughs. In addition, we distributed more than 30 Tourism Update newsletters to members biweekly. 

Domestic PR 

On the domestic front, the team continued to engage with regional and drive-market media to tell positive destination stories through local broadcast affiliates, newspapers and digital media, while also securing features in top domestic travel magazines and coverage in key markets including Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and others. Major communications initiatives included the Get Local NYC campaign, which featured dedicated five-borough guides and CBS Radio segments as well as a preview of the 2023 NYC Winter Outing vibrancy campaign in the fall to maximize exposure and opportunity to drive bookings.  We continued our efforts to increase our engagement with US-based Spanish-speaking media outlets through dedicated outreach, highlighting our initiatives and Latino communities and businesses across the five boroughs.  

International PR 

Working to generate positive news about the five boroughs globally is market-specific work and crucial to promoting inbound travel to New York City—considering that international visitors account for 20% of NYC visitation but almost 50% of all spending and hotel room nights sold.  As international travel widely resumed this year, we reestablished NYC as a must-visit destination and told the world that we are back in a big, big way. Our team and in-market PR representatives hit the road, engaging travel editors and writers, and generating press coverage in key markets across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania through “What’s New in NYC” press conferences, trade shows, deskside meetings and media marketplaces.  

Coverage Results 

This ongoing surge of vital coverage placed a spotlight on our membership and signature programs, communications campaigns and local initiatives—including the It’s Time for New York City and It’s Time to Make It NYC SM campaigns. We placed approximately 17,000 positive news stories.  This strategic storytelling and messaging reinforces tourism as a major economic driver for the five boroughs and its role in the City’s continued recovery.  

NYC Ranked Among the World’s Best and Most Powerful Destinations 

We are proud to note that New York City was named 2023’s Number One Popular Destination in the United States. Tripadvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Awards celebrate tourists’ favorite destinations and places to go in different categories. Results are calculated from data gathered from user ratings and reviews on tripadvisor.com. NYC has also been named the Best Trending Domestic City – United States on Kayak’s Travel Awards. These awards showcase the most popular and top-rated hotels, destinations, airlines and rental cars. This recognition is based on real traveler searches from January to October of 2022, where New York City has proudly secured the number one spot on the list. These honors are a credit to our teams’ hard work in promoting our destination and in welcoming travelers with interests in all sectors of our tourism economy.  New York City has landed at number six on a new index from the World Travel & Tourism Council. The index ranks the world’s most powerful tourism destinations by visitor spending based on 2022 tourism data. 

Tourism Development

In 2022, the Tourism Development team continued to rebuild and strengthen leisure travel to NYC. By reestablishing our international representation to pre-Covid levels, we were able to focus on rebuilding trade relationships, relaunching NYC’s presence at major trade shows and sales missions, and aligning recovery campaigns with trade partners.

The team attended 29 trade shows and industry events in 2022. We conducted 10 sales missions and hosted nine familiarization trips with leisure travel partners. The strength of our destination product is unparalleled, and it is heartening to see passionate interest in promoting and booking NYC among members of the travel trade.   The team showcased New York City as the premier leisure destination for discerning travelers around the world at the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) Latin America and Cannes, as well as during our Middle East Sales Mission and Virtuoso Travel Week. Our partnerships with top luxury travel networks such as Serandipians, Virtuoso and Signature Travel Network provide further opportunities to promote our city to their clientele. Domestic group business continued its rebound, and we promoted NYC at the American Bus Association (ABA), Travel Professionals of Color, the National Tour Association (NTA), the African American Travel Conference and the Student/Youth Travel Association (SYTA) Annual Conference ahead of hosting the latter event in 2024, giving New York City the amazing opportunity again to showcase the City to this market.    We celebrated the return of our NYC Center Stage luncheon at IPW in June, where we partnered with Broadway Inbound to feature performances from six Broadway shows and highlight our content hub, The Black Experience in NYC.  IPW is the largest leisure travel show in the USA, creating the best opportunity to reach global trade buyers and media in one place. Last year, the show took place in Orlando and was attended by nearly 4,800 attendees from over 60 countries. We conducted a total of 210 trade appointments over the course of three days. With the team attending seven trade shows and conducting five sales missions in major markets in Q1 to date, 2023 is off to a strong start. In late January, we hosted a US/Canada Reverse Sales Mission, creating an opportunity for members to meet domestic and Canadian travel trade in our own backyard. We hosted 15 buyers from the US and 15 from Canada with 30 members attending the sales mission. To expand the type of product shared with our trade partners, we held a Five-Borough Marketplace at the start of the mission, featuring 28 smaller member businesses who exemplify the diversity of product throughout the City. The team also launched a scholarship program to create opportunities for small businesses and cultural organizations to participate in sales missions with us and showcase the diverse neighborhood experiences of NYC to global trade buyers. To date, participation costs have been waived for nine small businesses and cultural organizations to participate in sales missions in 2023.  

Convention Development

The Convention Development team continued to source leads to drive group bookings, build and support relationships and forge direct connections for members with key business event planners. Our sales activities returned to pre-pandemic levels, with the team attending 84 total events and trade shows in 2022, ultimately generating 2,646 qualified group leads for members. The team confirmed 1,130 new group bookings last year totaling 269,063 room nights; this is 82% of our total 2019 volume. In terms of lost business, there were an additional 1,433 group leads that were lost to other destinations, representing roughly 1,243,200 room nights.  The primary reason for lost business was required space or dates were not available.

We were pleased to help host Marriott International’s annual association and corporate customer conference, The Exchange—hosted for the first time in New York City. This July event showcased a rejuvenated Times Square to over a thousand of the hotel brand’s top customers and association and corporate event planners, who all plan several events each year. Events like The Exchange help increase tourism in the City, bringing hundreds of future programs to NYC with millions of delegates.    The 2023 Global Conference for the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) took place in New York City February 17–20. This edition also marked the association’s 50th anniversary, celebrating five decades of incentive travel. Hosting this important conference in the City encourages new business throughout the five boroughs—specifically for the sales incentive market.

Supporting our partners and members with their client events and participating at trade shows like IMEX America, PCMA Convening Leaders, MPI World Education Congress, SITE Global Conference and annual conferences for the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals, LGBTQ Meeting Professionals Association and Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals ensures NYC stays top of mind for planners from every market vertical, with the corporate group segment remaining strong and associations increasingly sourcing for 2024 and beyond.     ‍ We’ve boosted the team’s efforts by continuing our It’s Time to Make It NYC SM marketing campaign, engaging planners in their sourcing cycle and drawing awareness to the City as the best destination for business events. The 2022 campaign saw over 10 million impressions on a mix of ads in Google, Meta and LinkedIn as well as sponsored emails and our own Meeting Planner Newsletter (with an average of 28% open rate). We also geotargeted ads to reach planners who were attending large conventions like IMEX to drive booth traffic and complemented this targeting with site-direct ads on industry websites like Northstar, Meeting Planners International, Cvent, SITE, PCMA and IMEX.  

We continue to position New York City as a global stage to host major events, like our ongoing bids to host the Democratic National Convention in 2024 and the FIFA World Cup in 2026 with New Jersey. As business ramps back up, our team is poised to take advantage of the opportunities in the marketplace and direct more of these critical big events and conventions to NYC. 

Destination Services

Our Destination Services team works with meeting planners and event organizers to help them put on a successful convention or event in New York City. They offer both turnkey and customized resources such as travel information, photos and videos, editorial content and attendance-building tools to help promote the City as the meeting destination, and to encourage attendees and exhibitors to explore NYC while they are in town on business. The Destination Services department also sources direct business leads and referrals to our members for everything from private dining to reception venues, transportation, temp staffing and other business services. Destination Services works closely with the Convention Development team and has directly supported over 120+ confirmed conventions, trade shows, meetings and big events, including over 40 that come to the City on an annual basis, as well as numerous high-profile bids for new business. Notable new events were the International Gynecologic Cancer Society meeting, The Marriott Exchange and the American Immigration Lawyers Association conference. Returning events included National Retail Federation (NRF), the Auto Show and Fleet Week. Additionally, NYC continues to prove a major draw for attendees, showed by attendance records broken in both B2B and B2C events. SITE Global Conference broke their attendance records with nearly 800 delegates at the New York Marriott Marquis, and Anime NYC with 55,000 attendees at Javits Center. As business travel in New York City continues to rebound, the Destination Services team is working hard to help shows grow their attendance and ensure NYC is positioned as a desirable, exciting and navigable meeting destination.  

Owned Channels

Our B2B and B2C website is the official digital guide for travelers and locals looking to explore the five boroughs. As we have now become New York City Tourism + Conventions, it is imperative we continue to reinforce our mission for visitors, residents and businesses through the B2C and B2B websites. We are revamping our sites to create more direct paths to the content consumers are seeking, and a more streamlined user experience overall, helping us to remain the official go-to NYC digital guide. Within our current B2C site, website optimizations are ongoing as we work with our digital partners to establish our new brand identity and messaging while measuring the success of our marketing tactics on different platforms. We are leveraging new partners within programmatic channels, such as Sojern, a leading travel marketing partner utilizing machine learning technology, and Bidtellect, a cookie-less ad delivery platform. These partners are helping us drive awareness and conversions for our tourism, vibrancy and evergreen campaigns on a larger scale than prior years. We have also introduced the use of QR codes to stimulate traffic and engagement to our site via out-of-home media promoting NYC. Continual analysis of our marketing strategies has led to significant growth in traffic with visits up 38% year over year, with our top driving channel being natural search—proving our incredibly strong positioning within keyword rankings. Comparing visits from Q1 of 2023 and 2022, we are pacing well ahead of last year, with visits up 22%.

Within the B2B site, providing support and valuable tools to our members, the travel trade, meeting planners and the press is an integral part of our mission statement. Our renewed B2B media strategy involves testing programmatic channels, streamlining our email tactics and continuing our use of social networks like LinkedIn to advance B2B goals. The site is also a repository for public-facing and member-only tourism marketing data and insights from our Research team. ‍

We are focusing on optimizing our targeted messaging efforts and strengthening our first-party data in preparation for the deprecation of cookies. In 2022, we engaged with subscribers by sharing our inspirational content and driving sales for our core marketing programs.

Our 2022 email marketing program had three primary objectives: improving subscriber retention, strengthening our segmentation strategy and increasing email performance. Throughout the year, we engaged with 512,000 subscribers, a 9% YoY increase from 2021. Additionally, 43.3 million emails were sent, a 35% increase from the previous year. To avoid overwhelming our subscriber base and ultimately reduce churn, the number of email campaigns sent this year stayed consistent with 2021. The email marketing program has placed an importance on creating individualized experiences for our subscribers. To achieve this goal, we began segmenting our audience by both geographic location and actions taken on our website. Furthermore, we have enhanced our consumer newsletters to provide meaningful, relevant content in an effort to boost subscriber engagement within our emails. Along with the Tourism Updates our Communications team managed, our other B2B emails shared the goal to keep our membership, meeting planner and travel trade audiences informed on NYC news and updates. As with our consumer emails, on average, our business-to-business email lists grew in 2022. We took steps to modify the cadence of our B2B emails by reducing the frequency of emails deployed each month. This was intended to avoid fatigue and to create a sense of consistency and balance with our communications, keeping NYC fresh in the minds of our subscribers.

The Social Media team’s initiatives are a core part of our messaging strategy. Through our presence on an array of channels, the team supports both critical company-wide programs and our ongoing inspirational content launches while expanding our reach and relevance with a variety of social-only tactics. We remain focused on celebrating New York City’s diversity—not only in terms of our neighbors and neighborhoods but also in the never-ending variety of things to do in the five boroughs. 

The team has continued recruiting talented New Yorkers for our Digital Creator Squad, a collective of NYC-based Instagram, TikTok and YouTube creatives from around the City with a combined audience of 1.7 million followers. Current members have focused on food and dining, events, hotels, museums and attractions, developing authentic content for our channels. Our Creator Squad has created an online presence exceeding programmatic benchmarks. Specifically, the engagement rate (comments, likes, shares, saves) for our Creator Squad posts is 5.6% on average—our non-Creator Squad posts run typically at 3.3% and industry benchmarks range from 1–5%. They are the voice of NYC, using the power of storytelling to inspire locals and tourists alike to travel to and within the five boroughs and to share the message of NYC as the greatest city in the world. ‍

Social Content Highlights

#SavorNYC To support the City’s long-standing businesses and celebrate the best of the boroughs, we created a social series around classic NYC restaurants. The series kicked off in October, aka National Pizza Month. A visit to Luigi’s Pizza in Park Slope, which captured YouTube-famous Brooklyn pizzamaker Gio Lanzo at work, generated 129,000 plays and 5,900 engagements on Instagram. Our partnership with Righteous Eats exceeded channel benchmarks by 37%. Among our most recent collaborations was a feature on 97-year-old Holocaust survivor and S&S Cheesecake founder Fred Schuster in the Bronx—which went viral with 495,000 video plays on Instagram and is now our most-popular Righteous Eats collaboration to date. 

#NYCMuseums Augmenting our efforts to promote the City’s cultural sector, we added museums to our regular Instagram Reels/TikTok rotation. A video tour of the Louis Armstrong House Museum became our first piece of viral content on TikTok (115,000 views and counting—our most popular TikTok post to date), while our collaboration with content creator Norberto Briceño, who produced a fascinating Metropolitan Museum of Art architecture reel for us on Instagram, has racked up 650,000 views.  

#CheckInNYC As part of our mission to support NYC hotels, our team added video content to our lineup in both organic and paid-partnership form with the debut of #CheckInNYC. We worked with longtime NYC travel journalist and content creator Laura Peruchi to explore the Lower East Side via a stay at Hotel Indigo Lower East Side New York, followed by a sponsored-content package in November spotlighting four Hilton properties as excellent spots for winter stays. So far, this initiative has generated 235,000 video plays on Instagram. 

Publications

The NYC Official Map has relaunched with 350,000 print copies and a digital presence on our website. The map was updated with detailed information provided by DOT and includes two new borough neighborhood inserts (Flatbush and Belmont) and 19 member advertisers. The NYC Official Map is distributed to approximately 500 points across NYC and the tristate area, including major hotels, airports and transit hubs.

Our licensing program puts some of the City’s most iconic marks into the hands of consumers via major retail partnerships and high-profile design collaborations. In 2022, these relationships and the resulting products enabled us to grow the NYC brand around the globe. As tourists return to the City, our souvenir shop business is rebounding to pre-pandemic levels. While continuously elevating different marks within the New York City portfolio, including those of the globally recognized FDNY and NYPD, we also support our own brands and company-wide initiatives through licensed products. We look forward to developing licensing opportunities for our new destination logo, “New York City.” Our ability to capitalize on trends remains an asset as we partnered with Only NY and DSNY on merchandise that generated buzz across social media and news outlets. We continue to find new licensees and expand into new categories by partnering with small NYC-based businesses with large social media presences and unique retail placements.

Membership, Education and Events

Our Membership team continued to adapt to meet the evolving needs of businesses across the City. We worked with businesses of all sizes and categories, across all five boroughs to keep them active, engaged and on the road to recovery. We introduced members to new audiences around the globe, offered revenue-driving opportunities through our signature vibrancy programs, upgraded our research and reports, invited them to attend industry events and sales missions, and provided virtual and in-person networking and educational opportunities. Member retention remains a key priority. We have 1,800 active members today and welcomed 68 new members in 2022. We are encouraged by a strong start to 2023, having welcomed 22 new members in Q1.

Member Events

Member events are consistently in the top three of member benefits and have made a strong comeback as people become more comfortable meeting in person. While virtual formats remain productive for education and training, we’ve hosted a steady stream of in-person events, bringing back our popular Business Card Exchanges. These included: Business Card Exchange: Bateaux Celestial May 2022 Business Card Exchange: Hard Rock Cafe September 2022 Business Card Exchange: Whitney Museum of American Art December 2022 Business Card Exchange: City Winery New York January 2023 Business Card Exchange: Brooklyn Winery March 2023

Member Education

Our signature “Talks” program featured industry updates, insights and education on key initiatives including Accessibility, Sustainability, Market Updates and more. Through virtual and in-person presentations and panel discussions, we gave members the opportunity to hear from and engage with industry experts and leading voices from around the world. We also brought back our Member Orientation & Refresher, NYC Tourism Cares and introduced a new program, Meet the Member, where businesses present to our full team. Talks: Global Student Travel ‍ January 2022 Members joined us in person at The Westin New York at Times Square for an industry update and panel discussion, presented by SYTA, on the global student industry, featuring market research, country updates on inbound and outbound travel, and tour operator and supplier perspectives on facilitating travel for 2022 and 2023. Talks: What’s on Tap for 2022 February 2022 Members joined us virtually for an in-depth review of the New York City Travel Barometer, a comprehensive and centralized source for high-frequency intelligence on the New York City travel industry and the broader economy. Members were able to learn more about our sales activities for 2022 and opportunities to participate in trade shows and sales missions, including an update from U.S. Travel Association’s Malcolm Smith, Senior Vice President of Business Development and General Manager of IPW. Talks: Your Membership in Action March 2022 In preparation for our Annual Meeting on March 30, the membership team created a new educational program, Your Membership in Action, which covered how to make the most of partnering with our company. In an in-person breakout session, members learned about tactical membership benefits, resources and opportunities for partnership engagement to help build their businesses. A highlight of this session was the demonstration of a brand-new interactive feature of the monthly NYC Travel Barometer Dashboard. NYC Tourism Cares: Morningside Park May 2022 Members were invited to join us in Morningside Park for NYC Tourism Cares, a day for volunteer service and networking. NYC was the original host city for Tourism Cares in 2003; and today NYC Tourism Cares brings the spirit and helping hands of the tourism industry to communities in all five boroughs. Talks: Summer Youth Employment Program June 2022 To assist our members with staffing shortages and to support workforce development, we teamed up with the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development and invited members to join a webinar to take advantage of the Summer Youth Employment Program, which provides paid work experiences and career exploration for a record 100,000 youths. Talks: ADA 32: Learn. Share. Hire! July 2022 With the steady recovery of tourism and the challenge to recruit and retain staff for hospitality businesses, we connected our members to access the ever-ready community of adults with disabilities. Moderated by Lakshmee Lachhman-Persad, Founder of AccessibleTravelNYC.com, and Peter Slatin, Founder of The Slatin Group, we heard from Martha Jackson, Acting Commissioner NYC Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities; Susan Crystal-Mansour, Ph.D., Vice President of Program Impact, National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation; and Alan Momeyer, Chief Human Resources Officer Emeritus, Loews Corporation. Member Orientation & Refresher September 2022 More than 200 members joined us for a virtual presentation of our initiatives for members and the City. They learned about tactical membership benefits, resources and opportunities for partnership engagement to help build their businesses. Talks: A Nature Positive Approach to Net-Zero Travel & Tourism September 2022 Members joined us in person at The Nest Summit Campus, during Climate Week NYC at the Javits Center, for a panel discussion on how the travel industry can fulfill its potential as a key nature positive sector and thereby lead the way to achieve the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target. Julia Simpson, President & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council, along with Fred Dixon, hosted a conversation with travel and tourism leaders on how the industry is doing its part.   ‍ Talks: Mastercard Digital Doors for Small Business October 2022 Small businesses heard from Mastercard’s expert Ginger Siegel, North America Small Business Lead, who provided an overview on Mastercard Digital Doors program, a suite of tools and resources to help businesses expand their digital presence, keep their businesses safe and maximize sales. Hotel Partner Meeting October 2022 On October 24, we welcomed more than 200 hoteliers at the New York Hilton Midtown for the return of our annual Hotel Partner Meeting where we discussed the NYC market outlook and trends. Our team provided an update on campaigns, initiatives and member opportunities while expert guest speakers from Tourism Economics, STR and Amadeus broke down the latest visitation by segment and region and delivered forecasts and strategies for the future. Talks: Market Update & Business Development Opportunities November 2022 Leaders of our Convention, Tourism Development and Research teams hosted a virtual presentation of the latest NYC market outlook, upcoming trends and sales opportunities, including a deep dive into our 2023 Member Business Development Opportunities calendar of upcoming trade shows and sales missions. Member Orientation & Refresher February 2023 More than 250 members joined us for a virtual presentation of our initiatives for members and the City. They learned about tactical membership benefits, resources and opportunities for partnership engagement to help build their businesses.

Tourism Ready 

Members of the travel trade, including travel sellers, bundlers and event planners, seek out unique and authentic NYC experiences to offer their clients. Our free Tourism Ready program gives local businesses a better understanding of the power of the travel trade, as well as tools for working with this valuable sector to secure advanced bookings and repeat business. The goal of Tourism Ready is twofold: to expand the number of businesses benefiting from the tourism economy and to grow and diversify our tourism product offerings across the five boroughs. NYC is the first destination to create a program to educate local businesses about the tourism industry and provide instruction on how to both build tourism efforts through partnerships and collaborate with the travel trade. It is important to note that membership is not required to participate in the Tourism Ready program. The program is specifically designed to reach businesses that may not yet recognize the value of or understand how to work with the tourism industry.  We resumed the full Tourism Ready program in 2022, running our Tourism 101 sessions in a virtual format, and hosting borough-specific meetings in person in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx. More than 180 businesses across the five boroughs were involved in the 2022 program. 

NYC & Company Foundation  

The NYC & Company Foundation renewed its fundraising efforts in 2022 with the successful return of our Visionaries + Voices gala. The 2022 honorees included The New LaGuardia Airport, the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, Shelly Fireman and the Fireman Hospitality Group and Ellen Futter (President of the American Museum of Natural History). The evening, which included the Foundation’s first auction and appeal, raised more than $800,000—far exceeding all our recent fundraising efforts.  The funds will be distributed in part through the Borough Cultural Tourism Grant Program, which the Foundation launched in 1998. As we continue to emerge from the effects of the pandemic, these grants provide vital marketing and audience development funds to the City’s small cultural organizations, contributing directly to the diversity and dynamism of NYC. Since its inception, the grant program has provided nearly 200 organizations throughout the five boroughs with nearly $4 million in marketing, audience development and advertising funds to help the organizations reach new attendees.

2023 Strategic Priorities

As we continue to regain our visitation numbers of both leisure and business travelers and work to restore 2019 visitation levels in 2024, we will focus on dispersing the economic benefits of tourism throughout the five boroughs and encouraging longer, deeper engagement with our city.

Key Areas of Focus

We will represent New York City as the most vibrant and diverse destination in the world, and through the lens of our new branding and refreshed company mission will center this work around three main priorities: Continue positioning New York City as the world’s most aspirational and welcoming travel destination, while positively influencing exploration of all five boroughs Sustainably restore both visitation and visitor spending Expand our funding and resources, thereby ensuring destination competitiveness as well as financial sustainability for the organization

Rollout of New Company Branding

Following our unveiling at the Annual Meeting, we will implement a new, cohesive destination branding system to help guide all decisions moving forward and assist with consistent brand stewardship around the world. This will include a robust style guide and tool kit, defining all usage requirements and best practices. The new branding, especially our bold new “New York City” mark, will be used in all B2C consumer communications and marketing, and will be the focus of our next tourism campaign this fall, helping to build global equity in this evergreen IP around the world. The full “New York City Tourism + Conventions” mark will primarily be used in B2B and corporate communications initiatives, particularly in the areas of Convention Sales and Membership. All trade shows, merchandise, signage and collateral will be updated to reflect the new look and feel, inclusive of our updated mark, typography and a bespoke color palette inspired by the colors of NYC, such as Taxi Yellow, Ferry Orange, Liberty Green, Lox Pink, Rockaway Sand and Coffee Cup Blue. Also, for the first time, we will have a full suite of supporting animation artwork and an updated photographic style to reflect a more unified look and feel. We will also evolve and expand the rebrand throughout the year and beyond through like-minded partnerships, particularly in the areas of content and licensed merchandise, with local New York City designers and creators—with future announcements to come.

Development of New Company Website & Digital Strategies

The rebrand will vividly come to life with the launch of our new website, nyctourism.com, this spring. The website will be a complete expression of the rebrand, including the new color palette, photography style, icons and other graphic elements. The new website will be a significant upgrade from the current system, which was last updated in 2016. Specifically, it will utilize new front- and back-end systems and will create more direct paths to the content our audiences care about most. It will also take a mobile-first approach in order to be an even more valuable planning tool, as 75% of our current site traffic comes from mobile. The website is also being built with an “accessibility-first” approach, with special attention paid to all aspects of ADA compliance. We have hired a best-in-class agency, Level Access, to help guide and handle all optimizations and have contracted The Slatin Group for ongoing consulting. Accessibility is being built into the foundation of the site, ensuring all future content updates remain accessible and approachable for all. Also, in preparation for the deprecation of third party cookies in 2024, we will lay the groundwork in 2023 to capture more first party data in order to better engage with prospective travelers. Beginning with the launch of the new site, we will implement a new personalization strategy to target those consumers both from a geographic and behavioral perspective, retargeting them with more content they could be interested in and nudging them toward content they might also consider, all in the name of generating more exploration and awareness of our neighborhoods and businesses throughout the five boroughs. In tandem with this, we will continue the refinement and advancement of our email strategy. We have recently created dashboards in our Adobe systems that allow us to measure the impact that every email has on website metrics and bookings for all programs, building upon key learnings. For example, email traffic for NYC Winter Outing 2023 drove 4% of all bookings, which is the highest to date. We will also continue to focus on reducing the unsubscribe rate and increasing subscriber engagement through segment and creative analysis and strategic planning. From a social media perspective, we will continue our focus on video, leaning heavily toward short-form content on most channels to drive traffic to our channels and engagement with our promotional programs. Longer form content like Local Legends will continue to be distributed on channels like YouTube and nyctourism.com, serving as brand-building and awareness vehicles for local small businesses and neighborhoods. We will continue to deploy our ongoing rotation of influencers from outside the market across travel, lifestyle, food, culture, theater and retail, promoting our programs throughout the year to their audiences and channels, helping us to gain incremental reach and exposure. We’ll also continue to build our Creator Squad, a team of local NYC creators who develop content for our channels on an ongoing basis, helping to ensure we continue to provide a forum for authentic local voices and perspectives.

Bringing More Meetings, Conventions & Big Events to NYC

Building back our meetings and group travel business remain a core component of our recovery strategy, as we promote NYC as the preferred destination for business events, directly solicit planners and decision makers, and showcase manageability of the destination. We will launch The NYC Meetings Fund, designed to influence planners to host their next meeting or event in NYC by offsetting a percentage of the hard costs—up to $575,000 will be eligible for disbursement. We will continue targeting, and incentivizing where possible, big events (sports, entertainment, citywide conventions) like the DNC, Latin Grammys, NFL Draft, World Cup and UN Climate Action Summit (COP). From a convention development perspective, we will continue to focus on the East Coast as a source of potential meetings and events, as it continues to be our top feeder market, followed by both mid-Atlantic and the West Coast, with the tech industry leading the way. Mid-Atlantic association business is beginning to recover, and corporate events remain strong, led by the tech industry. The incentive business is also beginning to recover, and small meetings (under 100 on peak) remain strong and represent the largest percentage of our definite bookings. We will also continue our partnerships with companies like HelmsBriscoe and Conference Direct to ensure they continue booking NYC and we stay top of mind as a destination of choice.

Building Revenue and a Sustainable Funding Strategy

While the American Rescue Plan funding and additional city Blueprint funds were crucial to our ability to help generate visitation coming out of the pandemic in 2021–22, we now need to seek other dedicated, sustainable revenue sources in order to remain competitive as a global destination. We will continue to work with City Hall and our partners to explore the development of a Tourism Investment District (TID) like those recently adopted in Washington, DC, and Boston, which involves a small assessment paid by the hotel guest per room night. New revenue generated by this assessment would be earmarked for the Convention & Visitors Bureau’s promotion of overnight stays in NYC, including leisure tourism marketing and attracting meetings, conventions and big events. This concept was included in the “New” New York Panel’s recommendation released in December 2022, and TIDs have been created in the majority of competing cities across the United States. New York City is the last remaining major destination in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast without a TID funding stream. If created here, it would allow us to continue the robust international and domestic marketing required to grow hotel demand and benefit neighborhoods, local businesses and cultural organizations. In the meantime, we will have additional digital ad sales opportunities made possible by the new website launch, inclusive of programmatic, new content packages and video sponsorship opportunities. We are also revamping our sponsorship efforts, packaging up potential opportunities for our B2B programs such as Member Talks, Annual Meeting and Tourism Ready, and are evaluating the possible renewal of our global Mastercard partnership. Our Membership Growth and Retention strategy will continue focusing on bringing acquisition back closer to pre-pandemic levels. Our Membership Development efforts will support our five-borough strategy through localized membership participation in all business and leisure programs, promotions and events, ensuring we are representing NYC in an equitable, inclusive manner around the world.

Expansion of Our Diversity Content & Initiatives

We will continue building upon the momentum we have achieved in the last two years with our multicultural content platforms and a video-first approach. Our Local Legends video series, featuring notable New Yorkers sharing their perspectives on some of the five boroughs’ most vibrant and culturally rich neighborhoods, launched in January and will continue through June. We will also create an original photo and/or video series for The Asian Experience platform and will continue to develop written and photo content for all three multicultural platforms (Black, Latino and Asian), inserting a multicultural POV through all our content on an ongoing basis. In terms of our diversity initiatives, we will continue our ongoing staff trainings, such as the past Band of Sisters gender bias training and GET Phluid gender expansive training, as well as cultural webinars like our Latin American Heritage Month webinar, Native American Heritage Month webinar and Black History Month hip-hop themed webinar, via our staff DEI Advisory Board. Additionally, we’ll be creating offline opportunities for staff such as the following:

• Staff cultural outings and in-office cultural experiences
• Volunteer days 
• Collaboration on and support of internal HR practices
• Development of strategic partnerships with relevant organizations

Finally, we will extend trainings, panel discussions and more to our membership throughout the year via our IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility) Committee, such as the above-mentioned Band of Sisters, GET Phluid and our Marketing to Diverse Audiences breakout session at the Annual Meeting.

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop

A highlight of 2023 will be the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, shining a spotlight on the Bronx and hip-hop culture throughout the City. Countless notable rappers have come out of NYC, but the music will be just one part of this celebration. The 50th anniversary will pay tribute to all of hip-hop culture, including the art, dance, music and fashion that was born from it in NYC but continues to influence the world. Our new Hip-Hop 50 content hub launching in April will include cultural guides, Q&A interviews, profiles, social media extensions and more through December.

Driving Deeper Neighborhood Exploration

Promoting our neighborhoods and local businesses throughout the five boroughs has never been more important, as we work to encourage deeper, more meaningful exploration of our city. We will continue to promote our neighborhood guides and content packages under the Explore NYC campaign on an ongoing basis, leveraging paid media to drive awareness around that content. We will also continue to produce original content that showcases those local businesses and business owners, leveraging both influencers and creators to further extend that work. Ultimately, we are committed to the further growth of our editorial and video content that promotes the rich diversity, experiences and cultural vibrancy of our neighborhoods to attract new audiences and showcase community.

Tourism Ready

We remain committed to the critical work of our Tourism Ready program. The goal of Tourism Ready is twofold: to expand the number of businesses benefiting from the tourism economy and to grow and diversify our tourism product offerings across the five boroughs. In 2023, for the program’s seventh year, we will work even more closely with neighborhood marketing organizations to reach further into communities. The team has initiated pilot programs with the Long Island City Partnership and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce with the Sunset Park BID and will look to expand upon this effort throughout the year.

Building Up Shoulder Seasons

Our suite of vibrancy programs designed to support local businesses across restaurants, Broadway, Off-Broadway, hotels and attractions will continue during key need periods in winter and summer. Specifically, we’ll be working to increase the performance and impact of those programs as well as the level of participation of local businesses in the five boroughs. We are adding a promotion for culture in May 2023, It’s Time for Culture, which will coincide with citywide large art events like Future Fair, Independent Art Fair, Frieze and NYCxDesign to illustrate that NYC is a perfect destination for culture lovers in May. We’ll also continue to support our retail sector with ongoing content amplification on our website and in social.

Diversification & Restoration of International Leisure Markets

We will continue to stimulate leisure demand internationally from both a trade and consumer perspective, with our current tourism campaign, It’s Time for New York City, running through June 2023. Our next iteration of the campaign, designed to drive trip bookings via partnerships with airlines and tour operators in key feeder markets, will launch again this fall with a focus on our new branding. Alongside this work, our team will continue to work with our 17 international rep offices to develop additional opportunities with the travel trade to keep NYC top of mind for travelers while ensuring the trade is continually educated on the latest product developments. To that end, will be launching our new Travel Trade Academy (TTA) this spring, offering a deep-dive education on the specifics of each borough and our diverse, constantly changing product offering in an easy-to-navigate interface. As we continue our ongoing engagement and content publishing in our Chinese social channels, we will continue monitoring and planning for the return of the Chinese visitor in the second half of the year, laying the groundwork for upcoming travel campaigns. In the meantime, we are renewing our focus on markets that are showing great growth over the last year such as India, Brazil and Australia. We will ensure that there are equitable opportunities for exposure and participation in our programs for smaller businesses through two reverse sales missions per year in market, which provide affordable, valuable engagement with the travel trade. We will also expand our scholarship program for trade shows and sales missions, which helps to offset participation fees for smaller organizations, again ensuring the diversity of NYC’s product offering is properly represented around the world.

2022 Financials

During the 12-month period ending June 30, 2022, NYC & Company recognized $25.3 million of the revenue received from the City through the American Rescue Plan, in addition to $21.2 million from the city contract and $1.3 million in restoration of the prior year PEG adjustment. The company also received $1.8 million in funding from the City to directly support NYC Homecoming. In FY23 and beyond, the company’s city contract is subject to more PEG reductions, which are expected to negatively impact revenue by at least $3.7 million over the next four years. In FY22, the company recognized $3.2 million in PPP forgiveness and private revenue began to recover slightly; we anticipate that continuing through FY23.

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Mayor Adams Announces Free Cultural Events Happening Across All Five Boroughs This Summer

June 14, 2024

Events Include Festivals, Performances, Screenings, and   Celebrations Commemorating Pride Month, Juneteenth, and More

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner (DCLA) Laurie Cumbo today highlighted an array of free events , festivals, performances, and other cultural programming available to New Yorkers as the weather continues to warm up. Much of this cultural programming is supported by the City of New York to be free, open, and accessible to all New Yorkers and visitors. From outdoor festivals, concerts, and performances to open air film screenings, to world-class public art, the long list of activities shows that there’s no place like New York in the summertime to connect with fellow residents and celebrate the beauty, joy, and energy of the city.

“The ‘City That Never Sleeps’ is rolling out events throughout the five boroughs for a summer of fun,” said Mayor Adams . “Every summer, music flows through our streets, plays sprout in our parks, and New Yorkers come together to celebrate the joy and energy that makes our city great. We are thrilled to support the artists, cultural organizations, and city agencies that have collaborated to bring this amazing roster of programs to every corner of our city. Happy summer, New York!”

“When summer arrives, 'N-Y-C' spells 'F-U-N! New York's cultural energy kicks into overdrive every summer when music, theater, art, festivals, and so much more bring open spaces to life in every corner of the city,” said DCLA Commissioner Cumbo . “We're proud to partner with and support the many cultural organizations, city agencies, and artists bringing this amazing range of FREE programming to New Yorkers. Culture is the heartbeat of our city. I encourage all New Yorkers to get out there any experience it!”

“Summer is right around the corner, and throughout the five boroughs NYC Parks offer various concerts, performances, and festivals for everyone of all ages to enjoy,” said New York City Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) Commissioner Sue Donoghue . “From Shakespeare in the Parks to live music performances and Movies Under the Stars, this summer, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to gather and enjoy a variety of exciting cultural events while basking in the beautiful scenery of their favorite parks.”

“We are so proud to join our sister agencies in creating and supporting free cultural events for all New Yorkers to enjoy this summer,” said New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Pat Swinney Kaufman . “We are especially excited to kick off New York Music Month, which includes a variety of free concerts, performances, workshops, and talks, and continue our ongoing collaboration with NYC Parks to offer Movies Under the Stars at locations throughout the five boroughs.”

“The summer season attracts travelers from all corners of the globe who are excited to experience vibrant and diverse offerings found only in New York City,” said New York City Tourism + Conventions Chief Marketing Officers and Interim Chief Executive Officer Nancy Mammana . “Across our five boroughs, visitors will find activities for all ages and interests — from Pride and Juneteenth events to free concerts and movies in our green spaces and more.”

Below are a number of the wide-ranging programming that is available to New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds. For additional events and calendars updated on an ongoing basis, check out related resources including NYC Parks’ calendar or NYC Tourism’s “Free and Low Cost Things to do in New York City this Summer .”

Bronx Arts Ensemble Summer Music Series | June 14 – July 27 : From Pelham Bay Park to the Van Cortlandt House Museum, the Bronx Arts Ensemble’s Summer Music Series brings free, live music to open spaces across the Bronx. The series kicks off with “The Jenn Jade 5! Presents: Summer Sprinkles!” at Pelham Bay Park.

Bronx Museum’s Experience Art! The Sixth AIM Biennial (Part Two) Closing Event | June 15 : In honor of the closing weekend for Bronx Calling: The Sixth AIM Biennial (Part Two) , Bronx Museum is offering an afternoon of art experiences — mostly led by exhibiting artists — that range from puppet therapy to international cuisine. 

The Point’s 21st Annual Hunts Point Fish Parade & Arts Festival | June 15 : Following a kick-off parade, head over to Hunts Point Riverside Park at 1:00 PM for the Arts Festival. New Yorkers can immerse themselves in live performances, savor delicious food, and witness incredible art.

Feel Free Art Festival at Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center | June 22: Feel free to paint. Feel free to dance. Feel free to express yourself. This festival is to allow all people to have the opportunity to enjoy culture and arts. Join New Yorkers for art workshops for all ages and musical performances.

Starlight Cinema: Enchanted Forest at Van Cortlandt Park | July 9 – 30 : Van Cortlandt Park Alliance and Horace Mann School Present free movies in the park on Tuesday Nights at the Van Cortlandt Park Parade Ground. This year’s films include The Wizard of Oz , The Princess Bride , Shrek , and Into the Woods .

Bronx Documentary Center’s 7th Annual Latin American Foto Festival | July 11 – 28 : The Bronx Documentary Center holds its 7th annual Latin American Foto Festival from July 11-28, featuring large-scale photographs by both emerging and established, award-winning photographers. Their work will be displayed throughout the South Bronx’s Melrose neighborhood. This year, marks 7th anniversary of the Latin American Foto Festival, which will expand to five new locations in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.

SummerStage’s Chuck Chillout 40th Radio Anniversary Party | August 1 : Chuck Chillout was one of the first radio DJs to help get hip-hop on the airwaves in New York City in the 1980s. In celebration of his 40th anniversary on the radio, “Uncle” Ralph McDaniels and Bugsy host a bevy of old-school MCs and DJs at a party high on nostalgia and hip-hop history. The lineup includes the former gangster rapper and current Hollywood star Ice T; Brownsville, Brooklyn duo M.O.P. of “Ante Up” fame; Schoolly D, the influential Philly rapper and Afrocentric innovator who wrote the theme song to Cartoon Network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force; and more. This show will happen in Crotona Park.

Find additional free cultural events happening in the Bronx this summer on the NYC Parks calendar .

Celebrate Brooklyn | June 8 – August 17 : New York City’s longest-running, free, outdoor performing arts festival, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! is a summer-long experience allowing New Yorkers to come back again and again with their friends and family to appreciate or discover a new genre, acclaimed artists, and world culture each night of the festival. Held, as always, at the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park.

PuppetMobile’s “Cinderella Samba” | June 15 : Cinderella Samba takes place in the lush landscape of Brazil, where, thanks to the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella attends Rio de Janeiro’s biggest Carnaval gala and dances the samba with Prince Paulo. The lively production features an original commissioned musical soundtrack that brings samba center-stage; handcrafted Carnaval festival floats on parade; and one-of-a-kind marionettes donning their most vibrant celebration costumes, created by the expert puppeteers from the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park.

The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital featuring Leah Hawkins, Mario Chang, Michael Sumuel in Brooklyn Bridge Park | June 20 : An annual summer tradition, the Metropolitan Opera’s popular concert series in New York City parks kicks off with a free outdoor recital. Three of today’s most exciting young stars — soprano Leah Hawkins, tenor Mario Chang, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel — come together for an effervescent evening of favorite arias, duets, and ensembles, accompanied by Met assistant conductor Dimitri Dover at the piano.

Mermaid Parade | June 22 : Since 1983, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors from around the world have headed to the Coney Island shore for Coney Island USA’s annual Mermaid Parade. Inspired by the Coney Island Mardi Gras parades of old, the Mermaid Parade was transformed by its participants into a new kind of community celebration. Now, this one-of-a-kind parade is a must on every summer in New York City bucket list.

Lazy Daze: Friends & Lovers | June 23 : Friends & Lovers return to Brooklyn Bridge Park with their signature soulful vibes, providing a safe space to let loose, dance, make friends, and maybe fall in love. This event is presented by MoCADA, in partnership with the Conservancy. Lazy Daze programs with Brooklyn Bridge Park are an opportunity to chill out and relax, and the series will continue throughout the summer.

Family Farm Days | June 30 – October 20 : City Growers’ Family Farm Days feature compost, wiggly worms, and empty bee hives for young people, and parents, to investigate. Family Farm Days are hosted in Sunset Park at the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm.

Works & Process: It's Showtime NYC!/Maimouna Keita African Dance Company / Kash Gaines’s Caged Birds | July 11 : For over 30 years, Bed-Stuy’s own Maimouna Keita African Dance Company has celebrated the rich art and heritage of Africa and its diaspora through extensive classes and performances. The company also produces an annual conference that hosts dance, music, and cultural workshops helmed by masters from Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and the U.S. It’s Showtime NYC! is a company of dancers with a history of performing on New York’s streets and subways. Culminating a community residency at Herbert Von King Cultural Center made possible through SummerStage, the work explores how New Yorkers are, by nature, archaeologists.

Movies with a View at Brooklyn Bridge Park – Past Lives | July 11 : This summer, join the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy to celebrate the 24th season of Brooklyn’s beloved free outdoor film series on Thursdays, from July 11 through August 28 at Pier 1 Harbor View Lawn.

WBLS’ 50 th Anniversary Celebration: Jon B / Vivian Green/Mel'isa Morgan/Horace Brown/Jeff Redd/Music by Funk Flex | August 11 : WBLS has been holding it down as the center of soul and R&B in New York City for decades. For this throwback jam in Coney Island, it assembles a collection of R&B stars from the late ‘80s and ‘90s sure to trigger nostalgic notions of love and tenderness, hosted by the legendary radio DJ Funk Flex.

BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! at Brower Park - Lila Iké | Film Night: Bob Marley: One Love | August 17 : Join this BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Pop-Up event at Brower Park! Featuring a screening of the movie Bob Marley: One Love and a performance by Lila Iké.

Find additional free cultural events happening in Brooklyn this summer on the NYC Parks calendar .

NYC Multicultural Festival | June 22 : The annual NYC Multicultural Festival, produced by the New York African Chorus Ensemble, features world-class cultural dancers, singers, and musicians giving spectacular performances that will make audiences marvel at New York City’s vast diversity of people. The festival is a musical journey around the world, from Broadway musicals to the Irish Jig, to the Afrobeat of Nigeria. Many countries will be represented.

LMCC’s River to River Festival | June 7-23 : LMCC’s flagship River to River Festival is downtown New York’s completely free summer arts festival, celebrating artistic and creative diversity across disciplines, and presenting live art in unexpected locations across Lower Manhattan, including public parks, outdoor plazas, storefronts, and historic buildings.

Morris Jumel Mansion’s Summer Programming | June 8 – August 25 : From outdoor movies to music performances, Morris Jumel offers a range of free cultural programming throughout the summer.

New York Classical Theatre’s Henry IV | June 11 – July 14 : For their 25th anniversary season, the New York Classical Theatre will put on a production of Shakespeare’s Henry IV in Central Park, Carl Schurz Park, and Castle Clinton throughout the summer.

Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City | June 12 – August 10 : The third annual Summer for the City will transform Lincoln Center’s campus into an oasis where neighbors and New Yorkers from across the city can gather, relax, participate in performances, enjoy expanded food offerings at the Lincoln Center Night Market, and play outdoor games. This year’s festival features new commissions and a wide variety of programming, bringing together thousands of artists from across the world in celebration of the multitude of cultural histories and stories that live within the city.

Shakespeare Downtown’s Macbeth | June 13-23 : The Scottish play comes to Manhattan’s Castle Clinton, a dramatic backdrop for one of the most infamous theater pieces of all time.

Intergenerational Jazz Power Festival | June 15 : Experience the soulful rhythms and melodies of the Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra, the enchanting vocals of Antoinette Montague, the vibrant performances of All-City High School Latin Ensemble, and the youthful energy of Zah! Jr. It’s all happening on June 15th at 3:00 PM on Pat’s Lawn in Inwood Hill Park. Enjoy music, nature, and great company — all for free!

East Village Zine Fair | June 15 : On Saturday, June 15th, Printed Matter/St. Marks and 8-Ball Community will showcase artists, independent publishers, and collectives from New York City at its fourth annual East Village Zine Fair, celebrating the neighborhood’s history of underground print culture past and present.

Taller Latino’s A Weekend of Music Outside! | June 15 – 16 : Taller Latino invites Orquesta Sabor Añejo and Marilyn Castillo to perform on open streets!

Museum at Eldridge Street’s 23 rd Annual Egg Rolls, Egg Creams, and Empanadas Street Festival | June 16 : Celebrate the diverse cultures that give the Lower East Side and Chinatown its identity alongside talented artisans, stage and street performers, and visitors from near and far. Set in front of the Museum At Eldridge Street’s landmark Eldridge Street Synagogue home, the festival takes over one block of Eldridge Street between Canal and Division Streets for a folklore fest unlike any other with a medley of Chinese, Jewish, and Puerto Rican tastes, sights, sounds, and crafts for people of all ages to enjoy.

Museum Mile Festival | June 18 : The 46th Annual Museum Mile Festival will include outdoor activities and offers free admission to the eight participating cultural institutions, which stretch from 86th Street to 110th Street along Fifth Avenue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Neue Galerie, Guggenheim Museum, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, The Jewish Museum, Museum of the City of New York, El Museo del Barrio, and The Africa Center.

Classical Theatre of Harlem’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream | July 6-28 : For this year’s edition of Uptown Shakespeare in the Park, the Classical Theatre of Harlem will present Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream starring comedian Russell Peters. This production will transport audiences to the height of the Harlem Renaissance, where four young lovers, a troupe of rude mechanicals, and mischievous fairies find themselves entangled in a web of romantic chaos within a mystical forest.

West Side Festival | July 12-14 : The second annual West Side Festival is a celebration of arts and culture on the West Side of Manhattan. Participants can enjoy artmaking, workshops, dancing, crafts, and other special programming across the 20+ participating organizations from the West Side Cultural Network, including the High Line, Whitney Museum, The Shed, Poster House, and more.

The Public Theater’s Block Party | July 28 : Celebrate community, The Public, and free Shakespeare on Lafayette and Astor Place with free live performances, activities, and giveaways. 

Harlem Week | August 7 – 18 : Harlem Week is an annual celebration of the best of Harlem, which works to promote its rich African-American, African, Caribbean, Hispanic, and European history, as well as arts, culture, religion, business, entertainment, and sports. Harlem Week began in 1974 as Harlem Day, a one-day event of encouragement and fellowship in Harlem for New Yorkers and beyond. Given the huge success of the celebration, additional days were added to showcase the community’s rich economic, political, and cultural history.

The Battery Dance Festival | August 11-17: The Battery Dance Festival is New York City’s longest-running free public dance festival. Each year, the festival draws a combined audience of over 12,000 in-person and over 35,000 virtual viewers.

Find additional free cultural events happening across Manhattan this summer on NYC Parks’ calendar .

Queensboro Dance Festival | Through September 15 : The 10th Annual Queensboro Dance Festival will bring performances and classes to parks, plazas, beaches, and other spaces across the borough all summer long. All outdoor performances and most classes are free.

International Girls Ensemble at Socrates Sculpture Park | Sundays Through June 30 : This free and fun workshop series will have participants engaging in fun theatre activities. Each week participants will engage in storytelling, emotional exploration, confidence building, and community-centered activities in a fun, interactive workshop. Socrates will have a range of free programming all summer .

50 Years of Rock and Roll | June 20 : Join NYC Parks and the Mayors Office in Cunningham Park for New York Music Months, 50 Years of Rock & Roll. Come out and enjoy the sun whilst enjoying a performance by Neil Berg.

Everything by Valerie Green/Dance Entropy at Museum of the Moving Image | June 23 : In celebration of the summer solstice, Everything is a dance performance installation evoking the ever-expanding universe, transforming the performance space into a constellation of stars and human bodies in various states of formation and explosion.    The Riddim and Jazz Festival | July 26-28 : Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning's signature music series — Riddim Section and Thursday Night Jazz — collide for a must-see culminating festival. The Riddim and Jazz Festival will bring musicians from genres across the diaspora to the stage, along with some of the industry's best jazz musicians. The festival will be headlined by Grammy Winner Samara Joy. 

Central Astoria LDC's Independence Day Celebration on June 27th, 2024 | June 27 : Central Astoria LDC proudly presents the 40th Annual Independence Day Celebration at Astoria Park. Enjoy music by the jazz and swing band Fleur Seule, and spectacular display of fireworks by Grucci.

Plaza Theatrical presents A Grand Night for Singing | July 11 : Enjoy this fresh take on the Rodgers & Hammerstein classics, featuring outstanding musical numbers from Oklahoma , Carousel , The King and I , South Pacific , and The Sound of Music at the George Seuffert, Sr. Bandshell in Forest Park.

Carnegie Hall Citywide: OKAN | July 20 : Named after the word for “heart” from Santería, OKAN is a women-led ensemble that fuses Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk, and a global array of rhythms. The band forges powerful audience connections through what CBC Music describes as “joy as a form of resistance.” Join them at the Beach 17th Street Playground adjacent to the Rockaway Beach Boardwalk.

Queens Rising | Through July 27 : Queens Rising is a multi-disciplinary arts celebration created to highlight the borough’s culture and creative diversity.

Ballet Folklórico Mexicano De Nueva York’s Guelaguetza | July 28 : The inspiration for the Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Nueva York’s Annual Guelaguetza Festival originated in Oaxaca City, Mexico, where representatives of the eight regions of Oaxaca gather together wearing traditional costumes to dance, sing, and give gifts to the crowd — creating strong bonds between the different regions. Each region offers a unique contribution to the festivities, like the much-loved “Dance of the Pineapple.”

THEATERAMA! Queens Theatre Celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the World's Fair | August 4 : Continuing the celebration of the World’s Fair through dance, Queensboro Dance Festival presents an outdoor evening of performances by more Queens-based dance companies representing countries present at the World's Fair and more.

Hip to Hip Theatre Company’s Free Shakespeare in the Park | August 7 – 24 : Join Hip to Hip as they celebrate 17 years of presenting free and accessible professional classical theatre in New York City. The Winter's Tale and A Midsummer Night's Dream will tour in repertory to nine parks from August 7-24. Plus, their interactive children's workshop "Kids & the Classics" will be offered 30 minutes before each performance. This season’s performances will travel to parks and cultural sites across Queens, including the Voelker Orth Museum, Sunnyside Gardens Park, Socrates Sculpture Park, and more.

Find additional free cultural events happening across Queens this summer on NYC Parks’ calendar .

Staten Island

Conference House Free Performances | June 9 – July 7 : Free performances by the Staten Island Philharmonic, Richmond County Orchestra, and Riverside Opera Company will bring this scenic spot on Staten Island’s southern short to life this summer.

Cottage Row: Curiosities | June 15 – October 19 : Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden welcomes visitors for a monthly community artisan market along historic Cottage Row, featuring over 50 Staten Island vendors, plus music, entertainment, food, and more. Enjoy new vendors and attractions on the third Saturday of each month.

Riverside Opera Company Free Concert in the Park | June 23 : Join Riverside Opera Company for a free concert in Conference House Park. Along with the Conference House Association, the Riverside Opera Company will be presenting Black Voices — opera, broadway, jazz and spiritual vocals live!  Bring a lawn chair or a blanket and enjoy wonderful music in a beautiful setting.

Sprinklerfest | July 19 : With food, music, and over 30 sprinklers, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden invites families to meet their neighbors and come together for a day of fun in the sun.

Movies Under the Stars: Much Ado About Nothing | August 2 : Experience The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing at Staten Island’s Faber Park Recreation Center. Recorded live from The Delacorte Theater in Central Park by THIRTEEN’S Great Performances on PBS. Tony Award winner Kenny Leon directs a bold new take on Shakespeare’s cherished comedy of romantic retribution and miscommunication.

Find additional free cultural events happening across Staten Island this summer on NYC Parks’ calendar .

Multi Borough/Citywide

NYC Parks Kids in Motion | Ongoing : The Kids in Motion program engages children in active, outdoor play. A NYC Parks staff member leads four to seven hours of free activities at New York City’s playgrounds, including organized sports, games, fitness demos, board games, water games, and more.

New York Music Month | Through June 30 : June is New York Music Month, the official celebration of New York City’s vibrant and dynamic music ecosystem. The month is an initiative of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment. Join for in-person and virtual events throughout June. Attend a concert in the park, sharpen skills with virtual and in-person resources for musicians, access rehearsal space, and join the conversation at the Annual New York Music Month Conference — all for free.

Photoville Festival | June 1 – June 16 : The annual Photoville Festival is returning to Brooklyn Bridge Park and in all five boroughs of NYC, June 1-16, 2024! This year brings a special and outstanding group of artists and programming partners to curate and present 85+ free outdoor photo exhibitions across all five boroughs of New York City. With stories highlighting hope, joy, and compassion, while honoring experiences of adversity and heartbreak, Photoville aims to elevate the power of visual storytelling by fostering empathy and understanding within the city’s communities.

New York Philharmonic’s Concerts in the Parks | June 11-16 : Since 1965, the New York Philharmonic’s Concerts in the Parks, presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, have become an iconic New York summer. This year, Thomas Wilkins, conducts the orchestra in a program that ranges from classics by Beethoven, Elgar, and Rimsky-Korsakov to Felix Mendelssohn’s violin concerto, with Randall Goosby as soloist, to new music by Carlos Simon and NY Phil Very Young Composers.

Sing for Hope Pianos | June 10 – 30 : Everyone’s favorite public pianos return to New York City. After a kickoff event on June 10th, the artist-designed Sing for Hope Pianos will go to 15 host sites across New York City and be available for public play through June 30th.

Make Music New York | June 21 : Make Music New York is held each year on June 21st. On this special “music holiday,” music makers of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds are empowered to take center stage and share their skills and passions through live performances in public plazas and parks, on sidewalks and in front of shops, and in partnership with cultural institutions and businesses across all five boroughs. Highlights of this year’s festival include Pueblo Harlem and Sousapalooza .

Go Public! Festival of Free Shakespeare in the Park | Through June 30 : This summer, The Public Theater is celebrating all things Free Shakespeare in the Park by bringing its shows to all five boroughs. The tour will include a bilingual musical adaptation of The Comedy of Errors with contemporary rhythms from across Latin America and free screenings of THIRTEEN'S Great Performances on PBS capture of Much Ado About Nothing . New Yorkers can also bring the festivities home, with free, on-demand streaming of THIRTEEN'S Great Performances on PBS captures of Much Ado About Nothing , Merry Wives , Richard III , and Hamlet .

New York City Poetry Festival | July 13 - 14 : The New York City Poetry Festival is a free weekend of readings, workshops, open mics, installations, performances, writing activities, book­selling, children’s programming, a beer garden, delicious food, and a whole lot of lying around in the grass listening to poetry on Governors Island. By uniting the largest community of poets in the country and offering a unique setting for literary activity, the New York City Poetry Festival electrifies arts and literature and brings poetry to new light in the public eye. This year’s headliners include Kazim Ali, Katie Farris, Safia Elhillo, and Ilya Kaminsky. Find additional events happening on Governors Island .

NYC Parks Free Summer Theater | Through August 24 : Broadway isn't the only place to experience great theater this summer. Throughout the season, free plays ranging from Shakespearian classics to new works by emerging playwrights are being staged in parks. Get a dose of culture on a budget and let nature set the scene. From the New York City Opera to Calpulli Mexican Dance to International Girls Ensemble to The Public Theater, parks across the city will double as stages for a wide range of performing arts this summer.

NYC Parks Free Summer Movies | Through September 6 : Roll up a blanket and pack the picnic basket: Movies Under the Stars is returning to the city’s parks again this summer, bringing the silver screen to every borough. Several movies per week will be playing in parks around the city. Fans can check the free summer movie page to see which movies are playing near them.

Rooftop Films Summer Series | Through September 21 : The largest and longest running outdoor showcase of independent films in the USA, the Rooftop Films Summer Series is a one-of-a-kind, summer-long, outdoor film festival that presents the best new independent and foreign films in scenic locations across New York City. For 27 years, Rooftop Films has been presenting the Rooftop Films Summer Series, featuring more than 60 outdoor screenings in the summer of 2023.

SummerStage | Through October 20 : New York City’s iconic outdoor performing arts festival is back, bringing 85 free and benefit shows to Central Park and 12 neighborhood parks across the five boroughs. The festival will showcase established and emerging artists from across the globe, highlighting forward-thinking women-pushing boundaries, and will feature a multitude of genres including jazz, hip-hop, indie rock, salsa, reggae, Afrobeats, soul, pop, global, and contemporary dance, to name just a few.

Public Art All Summer Long (and beyond!): Public art can be found in every corner of the city. Here are a few entry points to experience this rich resource:

• Art in the Parks | Ongoing : Through collaborations with a diverse group of arts organizations and artists, NYC Parks brings both experimental and traditional art in many park locations to the public. Highlights include artist Rose B. Simpson’s Seed in Inwood Hill Park and Madison Square Park, artist Kamala Sankaram’s The Buried Brook in Van Cortlandt Park, artist Julia Sinelnikova’s Light Portal in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and Lina Montoya’s We Are Beautiful on the Stapleton Esplanade.  
• Percent for Art 40 th Anniversary Map : Earlier this year, DCLA launched an interactive map and website showcasing artwork commissioned over the course of the Percent for Art program’s four decades. The interactive map spotlights 40 permanent public art projects across the five boroughs and features an audio tour with the voices of figures who have supported the program since its inception, including artists, commissioners, and directors of the program. 
• Hot Dog in the City | Through June 13 : Frankfurters, wieners, Coneys, red hots — icons of summer in New York City! The Times Square Alliance and dynamic artist duo Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw take street meat to new heights with a sculpture of the iconic New York City style hot dog. Complete with hydraulics and bursts of confetti, this spectacular animatronic installation, sited in the heart of Times Square, will also be an anchor for serious talks, playful performances, and political debate.  
• Public Art Fund’s Summer 2024 Exhibitions | Ongoing : Public Art Fund brings dynamic contemporary art to a broad audience in New York City and beyond by mounting ambitious free exhibitions that offer the public powerful experiences with art and the urban environment.  

Queer Trash: The Symposium at Issue Project Room | June 15 : 2018 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow and collective Queer Trash present the next evolution of their symposium series featuring experimental artists David Grollman, M. Lamar, and Qiujiang Levi Lu. Exploring improvised sound interpolated with dialogue at ISSUE’s home theater, the artists will variously debate, elevate, and discard questions of queerness, aesthetics, and community/communities within the arts, with a performance format developed over the preceding week by the participating artists and Queer Trash founders Michael Foster & Richard Kamerman. (Brooklyn)

Carnegie Hall Citywide Concert: Jasmine Rice LaBeija | June 27 : Renowned drag artist Jasmine Rice LaBeija, a Juilliard-trained tenor with a commanding voice and razor-sharp wit, is performing at Wave Hill. Attendees can experience one of New York’s great entertainers in this free presentation in partnership with Carnegie Hall Citywide. (Bronx)

NYC Pride March | June 30 : NYC Pride will mark 55th Anniversary of Stonewall Uprising and honor the diverse LGBTQIA+ community with an amazing celebration. There will be awe-inspiring floats, incredible performances, dizzying costumes, and streets packed with revelers. This year’s grand marshals include DaShawn Usher, Miss Major, Raquel Willis, Michelle Visage, Eshe Ukwell, and Baddie Brooks. (Manhattan)

2024 Pride at the Whitney | Through June 30 : The Whitney Museum invites New Yorkers to discover the queer history of the Meatpacking District, dance the night away at a party inspired by New York’s iconic ballroom culture, and get creative with artists this June. LGBTQ+ visitors and allies are welcomed to free parties, film screenings, creative workshops, performances, and more. (Manhattan) 

Carnegie Hall Citywide: Le Gateau Chocolat | June 6 : Carnegie Hall presents Le Gateau Chocolat, a self-described “opera-occasional, black-bearded drag diva” who has graced the stages of Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, and the Barbican Centre. In this specially curated song cycle that pulls from pop, opera, folk song, musical theater, disco, and more, Le Gateau Chocolat invites the audience into an exploration of intimacy, by asking, “Who are we when no one is watching?” (Manhattan)

MCNY’s Hidden Voices: Pride Month - Session 1 | June 11 : The Museum of the City of New York is celebrating Pride Month by welcoming students for a free virtual workshop for grades 3-5. In this session of the Hidden Voices of New York City series, students will learn about three LGBTQ+ New Yorkers whose stories have too often been “hidden” from the traditional historical record, but whose lives and legacies continue to shape New Yorkers’ collective history and identity in the city. (Manhattan)

Criminal Queerness Festival | June 21 – June 29 : National Queer Theater’s Criminal Queerness Festival celebrates queer and trans artists from around the world who have the guts to risk it all — censorship, imprisonment, and violence for simply sharing their truth. This year’s festival at PAC NYC features productions of Achiro P. Olwoch’s The Survival , Raphaël Amahl Khouri’s She He Me , and Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko’s Waafrika 123: A Queerly Scripted Tragic Rise to African Fantasia . Events are pay what you wish. (Manhattan)

Queens World Film Festival Presents: Taking Pride in the Community Film Festival | June 7 : Flushing Town Hall presents an unforgettable celebration of LGBTQ+ voices. This special festival highlights diverse stories and perspectives from the LGBTQ+ community, showcasing the power of film to inspire, educate, and bring people together. Embracing one’s true self in the face of societal expectations and cultural norms is the thread that binds these stories together to celebrate the resilience, strength, and beauty of the LGBTQ+ experience. (Queens)

QPL Pride: Ultimate Carnival Dance Moves | June 13 – 27 : Darren Bankss, former dancer with the Kofago Dance Ensemble and the CarNYval Dancers, will lead the ultimate carnival experience. Explore dance history, followed by a dance class. In addition to this series, the Queens Public Library is presenting an array of Pride Month programming. (Queens)

Pride Colors in Nature | June 22 : Celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month with NYC Parks. Join the Urban Park Rangers at Staten Island’s Willowbrook Park as they explore the park in search of some species of plants and animals featuring the colors of the LGBTQ+ pride flag, among others. (Staten Island)

Pride: All Day, Every Day Outdoor Art Exhibition | Through August 31 : In honor of Pride Month, Arts Gowanus is once again partnering with Brooklyn Pride and The Old Stone House & Washington Park to present an outdoor art exhibition called Pride: All Day, Every Day. The exhibit features artwork — selected from an open call — by emerging and established Brooklyn-based LGBTQIA+ artists working in various styles and media. The works will depict and celebrate what “pride” means to the artist and/or Brooklyn’s LGBTQIA+ community. (Brooklyn)

Find additional Pride Month events on the NYC Pride website .

Wave Hill’s Juneteenth Celebration | June 13 : Honoring Black history, achievement, and resilience, Wave Hill will present an evening of performances and artmaking. Attendees can decorate colorful plant pots inspired by stories of hope and liberation. The celebration culminates with engaging musical and dance performances that highlight the Black experience in the United States. (Bronx)

Healing of the Gardens: A Diasporic Conversation | June 15 : Award-winning author Camille T. Dungy will sit down with Dr. Jessica B. Harris to talk about Dungy’s latest book, Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden , and the many ways in which gardens, plants, and food show up in her life and work, as well as the cultural traditions and histories associated with them in the African diaspora. This conversation is a part of New York Botanical Garden’s Juneteenth programming. (Bronx)

Bronx Arts Ensemble’s Juneteenth Celebration | June 19 : Van Cortlandt Park Alliance and Bronx Arts Ensemble invite New Yorkers for an evening celebration with music and spoken word performances with drummer Baba Don Babatunde, actress Ashley Hart Adams, violist Judith Insell, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, poet David Mills, and West African drummer Yahaya Kamate. (Bronx)

Wyckoff House Museum’s Farmhouse Family Day | June 15 : Juneteenth has revered roots as a day of freedom for enslaved African Americans in Texas and throughout the country. Join us the Wyckoff Farm for a community celebration featuring storytelling and crafts for all ages. (Brooklyn) 

KowTeff’s 14 th Annual Juneteenth Celebration | June 15 : The KowTeff School of African Dance will present a lively Juneteenth celebration with music and dance in Brooklyn’s Restoration Plaza. (Brooklyn)

Brooklyn Children’s Museum Juneteenth in Brower Park | June 19 : Brooklyn Children’s Museum joins neighboring Brower Park for a special Juneteenth commemoration featuring live music, storytelling, art projects, and more. Brooklyn Children’s Museum is proud to partner with Friends of Brower Park, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn Public Library, and Repair the World to celebrate books of freedom. (Brooklyn) 

Green-Wood’s Juneteenth Family Day | June 15 : Celebrate this important holiday marking the end of slavery in the United States by delving deep into Black history at Green-Wood. Participate in free kids’ art activities in the historic chapel with partner ASNEAA and take a self-guided tour of the gravesites of fascinating Black historical figures. Maps and biographies of featured burial sites will be available and the Green-Wood trolley will run on a loop to all sites so folks can hop on and off as they please. (Brooklyn)

Lincoln Center’s Some Sing: A Juneteenth Celebration | June 19 : Historian, artist, and curator Carl Hancock Rux will present a campus-wide jubilee of Black sound for Juneteenth. The event will include performances by jazz experimentalist Cooper-Moore, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Tamar-kali, Bronx-born soul musician Stephanie McKay, and many more, culminating in a concert set with Toshi Reagon (Parable of the Sower) and her full band. (Manhattan)

Carnegie Hall’s All American Freedom Day 2024: The Year of Justice, Peace, and Love | June 19 : Join Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., notable honorees, distinguished speakers, and renowned artists for a Juneteenth celebration at Carnegie Hall. (Manhattan)

Broadway Celebrates Juneteenth | June 19 : Broadway Celebrates Juneteenth is a free outdoor concert event centered around Black artistry and unity. Created by and featuring Black performers and allies, the concert includes a variety of Broadway performers showcasing their talent and uniqueness with works of art. Included in the festivities is the presentation of the annual Legacy Award, given to esteemed Black artists for their incredible community involvement and astounding achievements on Broadway. This year’s concert is taking place in Times Square (rain or shine). Michael James Scott will host, and the 2024 Juneteenth Legacy Award will be presented to two-time Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad. (Manhattan)

Lewis Latimer House Museum’s Juneteenth Reopening Celebration | June 15 : The Lewis Latimer House Museum will unveil their new permanent exhibition honoring Black inventor, artist, and writer Lewis Latimer. Enjoy African drum and dance circle with FANIKE! African Drum and Dance Troupe and a special appearance by Fresh Prince of Bel Air actress Karyn Parsons, who will read from her children's book series about famous figures in Black history. (Queens)

Louis Armstrong House Museum’s Juneteenth Concert | June 15 : Renowned musician, composer, and conductor Wycliffe Gordon will join the Louis Armstrong House Museum for the first garden concert of the season in an unforgettable afternoon in observance of Juneteenth. (Queens) 

Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning’s Juneteenth: In Our Words | June 19 : Hosted and curated by 2023 BRIC Brooklyn Grand Slam winner Jasmine "JRose" Rosario, the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning will present a spoken word and live painting by Shenna Vaughn. Punctuating the evening will be New York's hottest female mobile DJ Tam Jams, vibing with the musical forms of language and expression. (Queens)

Museum of the Moving Image’s Celebrate Juneteenth 2024 Festivities | June 19 : In celebration of the Juneteenth and Black Music Appreciation Month, the Museum of the Moving Image will be celebrating with free music and performances by DJ Planet Mo, Edge School of the Arts with LIFE Camp drummers, Eagle Academy, and Uptown Vinyl Supreme. (Queens)

Snug Harbor's Juneteenth Festival Freedom Festival | June 22 : The Staten Island Community Alliance Corporation will host the Free 4th Annual Juneteenth Freedom Festival at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden. The day will include dance performances, local bands, DJs, vendors, and health and wellness activities along with free Staten Island Museum admission in honor of Juneteenth. (Staten Island)

“As the weather gets warmer, we are excited to share with our residents and families free cultural events for the summer,” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson . “From concerts to film screenings, there is something for everyone to enjoy!”

“As we step into summer, New York City comes alive with an array of free cultural events that reflect the heart and soul of our vibrant community,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine . “With festivals, performances, and screenings happening in every borough, there's an opportunity for everyone to engage with the rich diversity and vibrant energy that define our city. Let's come together to enjoy these events and make this summer unforgettable for all New Yorkers.”

“From the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island to BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! in Prospect Park, there’s no better place to celebrate the summer than in Brooklyn,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso . “Thank you to the many partners and organizations who come together to make these affordable, summer activities available and accessible to all. Whether you’re living in Brooklyn or just visiting, don’t miss out on all the fun!”

“Nothing beats the summertime in Queens! From dance festivals to free concerts at our parks, there is something for everyone to enjoy,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr . “Come out with your friends and family and take in all that ‘The World’s Borough’ has to offer.”

“Staten Island has much to offer to families to enjoy during the summer. From the festivals to the concerts to the experiences at our cultural centers, including the Conference House and Snug Harbor, there is no shortage of opportunities to enjoy a summer day here with friends and family,” said Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella . “We invite Staten Islanders and all across the city to come to Staten Island, enjoy these cultural programs, and experience what Staten Island has to offer.”

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6 Fun and Cheap (or Free) Things To Do in New York City This Summer

N ew York City is known as the city that doesn’t sleep. And for anyone who’s been there, you probably also know it’s a city that doesn’t stop spending. If you’re in Manhattan or trendy parts of Brooklyn, it’s all too easy to dish out a fortune. Even ostensibly affordable restaurants and cafés can bust your budget, and there are endless rows of shops encouraging you to buy souvenirs and indulge in retail therapy. And then of course there’s the astronomical cost of living there — 128% higher than the national average, according to Payscale. 

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Even tourists feel the impact of big costs in the Big Apple; according to Statista, the average cost for overnight accommodation in New York was $504 as of last September 2023 — and prices are expected to go up. It all prompts the question, “How can you enjoy a summer vacation in NYC without breaking the bank?” Let’s look at six cheap or free things you can do in this awesome location.  

Parks (You Have Several Options, All Free)

When you think of NYC, images of lush nature may not spring to mind. The city is better known for its busy sidewalks and intense hustle-and-bustle energy. But NYC has several green oases that are idyllic in the summer. Most famously there is Central Park in Manhattan that spans 834 acres and has more than 18,000 trees and over 200 species of birds. You should also check out Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Tompkins Square Park in the East Village or The Battery in Lower Manhattan. All are free to enjoy.

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The Met and Other Museums 

What’s a visit to New York City without a trip to one of the most famous museums in the world: The Met? Tickets are $30 for adults, $22 for seniors and $17 for students. Kids under 12 get in for free. And for New York State residents and New York, New Jersey and Connecticut students, you can pay what you want although you have to pay something. For anyone who has to pay, it’s worth the price when you consider how much time you can spend there and the amount of historical and modern art experiences you can soak up. Founded in 1870, The Met is home to art collections spanning 5,000 years of world culture — from prehistory to the present. If you’re free on a Friday evening, check out special events that run through 9 p.m.

There are plenty of other museums to visit in NYC. The Guggenheim is another must-see in Manhattan, and costs around the same as The Met. Children under 12 get in at no cost, so this too is an excellent choice for families traveling with kids. For a more somber but equally important cultural experience, go to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in lower Manhattan. Admission prices range from $21-$33.

Free Summer Movies 

Rather than paying for a movie ticket, enjoy a free movie in one of NYC’s parks. You can find a list of what’s playing and where here . Most of the showings are in the late evenings, so this one may not be ideal if you have a little one with an early bedtime. 

Free Kayaking in Brooklyn Bridge Park 

Want a fun water activity to take the edge off the sweltering humidity and catch some gorgeous views of lower Manhattan and the NYC harbor? Hit up the Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse partner to provide free kayaking adventures every summer. Live vests are included.

The High Line

You don’t need to spend any money to take a pleasant stroll on the High Line, a 1.5-mile long park constructed on an old elevated rail line that runs from Gansevoort St. to 34th St. Here, you’ll find blissful gardens, art shows, boutique vendors and awesome street food. It’s totally free to check out, but donations go a long way to support this vibrant community. 

Coney Island 

Come for the city lights and stay for the bustling beaches! Sure, you won’t find white-sand coasts or translucent water in a city that is, frankly, somewhat grimy, but you will find some fun in the sun. Your best bet, particularly if you’re on a family excursion, is to jaunt over to Luna Park Coney Island in the southwestern section of Brooklyn. Not only will you enjoy a boardwalk with rides (daredevils should check out the Cyclone, a historic rollercoaster) street food and drinks, but you can also find some fun free events happening all summer long. Though Coney Island is free to visit, you’ll have to pay to go on the rides.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : 6 Fun and Cheap (or Free) Things To Do in New York City This Summer

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The 5 best nyc dinner cruises for food & views.

These dinner cruises provide some of the best views of Manhattan.

The Best NYC Dinner Cruises

Courtesy of La Barca Cantina

When you're strolling the streets of Manhattan, it can be difficult to grasp the magnitude of the city, with its skyscrapers and densely packed landmarks. The solution? A boat ride. A breezy sail in New York Harbor can feature everything from an elegant dinner to a live jazz band to tacos and tequila. Read on to discover the top-rated New York City dinner cruise options as determined by travel expert opinion and recent reviews.

City Cruises New York Bateaux Premier Dinner Cruise

Price: From $144 Duration: 3 hours Standout perk: This all-glass boat delivers panoramic skyline views.

Climbing aboard the Bateaux feels like stepping into a greenhouse, with its glass-enclosed structure and water views in every direction. There are no bad seats on this boat, but as an upgrade you can reserve a window table for the best views of the Hudson River, the East River and the New York Harbor. This cruise is a match for anyone seeking elegance: The tables are covered in crisp white cloths, wine and cocktails are served in sparkling glasses, and a three-course a la carte dinner is served at a relaxed pace (no buffet here).

The Bateaux cruise is an experience to get dressed up for, where the dress code is semi-formal and dinner is accompanied by live music. The sunset can provide the perfect backdrop for pictures, and don't forget to snap a shot of the Statue of Liberty . Children younger than 6 are not permitted on this cruise, so expect a polished, for-adults atmosphere complete with creative cocktails and dancing under the stars. The Bateaux has rightfully earned a reputation for its fresh food; this three-course, plated menu includes several tempting a la carte options from a ravioli starter with crispy pancetta to osso bucco with cauliflower polenta.

Check prices & availability on:

City Cruises New York Signature Dinner Cruise

Price: From $109 Duration: 2.5 hours Standout perk: A live DJ gives this dinner cruise an extra dose of atmosphere.

Looking for a casual night of dining and dancing with the addition of a skyline backdrop? This dinner cruise offers just that. Set sail from Chelsea Piers in a climate-controlled boat along the Hudson and East rivers, admiring New York City landmarks like the Empire State Building . For dinner, indulge in a chef-prepared buffet with a wide range of options from Greek salad to oven-roasted salmon with miso to Caribbean jerk braised pork. If you're bringing a sweet tooth on board, be sure to check out the ample dessert station.

After snapping some pictures on the open-air deck, return to the cabin for cocktails from the cash bar, interactive games and upbeat music from the onboard DJ.

Those traveling with young kids will be pleased to know that infants younger than 3 cruise free – so feel free to bring your little ones along to enjoy the experience with you.

La Barca Cantina

Price: Varies Duration: 2 hours Standout perk: You'll find an extensive tequila and mezcal list on board to accompany the Mexican fare.

One criticism of New York dinner cruises is that they don't offer good value for money, but the "taco boat" challenges that critique with ceviche, tacos, churros, cocktails and skyline views for an affordable price. Climb aboard a yacht at Pier 81 to experience a youthful, modern interpretation of a dinner cruise – think: low lighting, couches for lounging and three bars, complete with Latin pop, salsa and dance music playing in the background. Raise a glass while the yacht sails south on the Hudson River to check out world-famous Manhattan skyline views.

La Barca Cantina also offers a bottomless brunch cruise with a DJ, as well as special events.

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Classic Harbor Line NYC Evening Jazz Cruise

Courtesy of Classic Harbor Line

Price: From $108 Duration: 1.5 hours Standout perk: A jazz trio typically featuring a sax, keyboard and drums plays live on board.

Listen to jazz standards aboard a 1920s-style yacht with this fun sightseeing cruise departing from Pier 62 in Chelsea Piers. Choose between kicking back in the climate-controlled cabin or on the open-air deck throughout this evening cruise, which includes views of Manhattan landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Live music is played outside on the deck or inside the salon, depending on the season (and the boat, Manhattan or Manhattan II).

While this cruise doesn't offer dinner, one complimentary alcoholic beverage is included, and a cash bar offers additional drinks and snacks. Listen to music by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and more as you sail past the twinkling Manhattan skyline. Those traveling in a group should keep in mind: Tickets are slightly discounted for groups of 4 to 16.

Circle Line New York City Harbor Lights Cruise

Courtesy of Circle Line

Price: From $54 Duration: 2 hours Standout perk: This no-fuss, excellent-value cruise option has drinks and snacks available for purchase on board.

When you're craving panoramic views rather than a three-course meal, choose the Circle Line's Harbor Lights cruise departing from Pier 83. This sightseeing sailing delivers an up-close experience of the Manhattan skyline lights coming to life, while cruising past landmarks including the Brooklyn Bridge and the Chrysler Building . A live guide provides narration and historical context for what you're seeing. As the sun sets behind New Jersey, watch the glow of the sinking sun reflect in the windows of skyscrapers.

Food from the onboard cafe – like salads, sandwiches and snacks – as well as beer, wine and cocktails at the bar are available for purchase. This is an ideal situation for groups with varying levels of hunger and thirst. Sit alfresco in the breeze or indoors in the climate-controlled cabin – it's up to you.

Non-English-speaking guests can download the Circle Line app for narration available in several languages; just be sure to bring your own headset.

Why Trust U.S. News Travel

Jessica Colley Clarke is a New York-based freelance writer. She loves to take visiting family and friends out on the water in the New York Harbor for a fresh perspective on the Manhattan skyline and beyond.

You might also be interested in:

• The Top New York City Tours
• The Best Hotels in New York City
• The Top Observation Decks in New York City

Tags: Travel , Tours

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