Foreign tourists will soon be reminded that New York City is more than Just Manhattan.
NYC & Co. - the city’s official tourism agency - this afternoon will unveil a series of “new initiatives” to encourage visitors to spend some time (and money) in The Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens.
“There’s so much happening in the boroughs,” said NYC -& Company president Cristyne Nicholas. “We want to encourage visitors to experience that.”
Nicholas said she would release specifics of the new push at NYC & Co.’s annual luncheon today in Brooklyn - the first time in at least 25 years that the city’s tourism agency has held such an event outside Manhattan.
“Having the meeting in Brooklyn sends a strong message of our commitment to increasing tourism in the outer boroughs,” she said.
Nicholas added that outer-borough residents should also expect lots of visits from “Mo-VIC,” the agency’s mobile tourist information center housed in a Volkswagen Beetle.
NYC & Co. chairman Jonathan Tisch added the outer boroughs comprise “New York City’s new frontier for tourism expansion.”
NYC & Co. has been dogged by complaints that it has not done enough to foster tourism outside Manhattan. Very few of the 35 million visitors to New York City every year set foot in an outer borough -unless you count their subway, bus or cab ride to Manhattan.
Yesterday, elected outer-borough officials hailed the idea of the effort to hype the myriad attractions beyond Manhattan.
“NYC & Co. is finally recognizing that Brooklyn is the real inner borough,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who conveniently ignored the other three boroughs that will be competing for NYC & Co. attention.
Markowitz may have a point with that“inner borough” talk. Brooklyn is, after all, the only borough from which you have to pass through another borough to leave the city.
Today’s NYC & Co. announcement will follow Markowitz’s official dedication of Brooklyn’s first tourism and visitors center. The Borough Hall office will help connect visitors to the borough’s sites, from Brooklyn Bridge all the way to Coney Island.