Travel
Statue Of Liberty Trips, NYC Hotel Bookings On Rise: Mayor
Tourists appear to be returning to New York City as last week saw sightseers book hotels at the highest level since the pandemic.
NEW YORK CITY — Nothing says tourism in New York City like a trip to the Statue of Liberty — and jaunts to Liberty Island jumped 22 percent last week from the end of June.
Mayor Bill de Blasio highlighted the number Thursday as sign visitors are returning to the Big Apple.
Another hopeful sign: last week had the highest hotel demand since before the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
Find out what's happening in New York Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"This is incredible progress," he said. "We are well on our way to reaching the goals that we had and then exceeding them because people are coming back to New York City."
The city is in the midst of a $30 million tourism campaign to bring visitors back after the pandemic ground travel to a halt.
Find out what's happening in New York Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Hotel industry representatives told de Blasio they wanted to get back to 500,000 rooms sold per week, he said.
"Well, guess what? Last week, 481,284 room nights sold in New York City," de Blasio said.
That's a 17,000 increase from the week before that, he said.
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