An effort by UK tour operators to push East Coast US destinations has failed to dent New York’s market share.
Over the last two years, operators such as Virgin Holidays and Gold Medal have launched and pushed short city breaks in cities such as Boston and Philadelphia as New York becomes increasingly expensive due to a lack of hotel rooms.
However, NYC and Company vice-president tourism development Fred Dixon said 1.2 million UK customers are expected to visit this year, while trade bookings increased by 10% last year, despite the rival destinations.
He added: “The introduction of new destinations is particularly prevalent during peak periods such as Christmas when tour operators find themselves without enough rooms so they turn to other cities.
“Operators might offer other cities but customers won’t have the same experience as there’s only one New York.”
He added some of the city’s hotel room problems are being alleviated by a new $45 million international marketing campaign which is pushing all the city’s five boroughs as opposed to just Manhattan, which has been the traditional choice.
Plans to build 13,000 hotel rooms by 2010 should also have a positive effect.
Dixon added New York should further increase its hold on the market with a rebranding exercise during the summer in addition to increased consumer advertising that should increase trade bookings.
More from Ed Robertson in New York
- TW journo ‘braves’ New York cab inferno (Travel Weekly Blog)
- New York press trip photos on Travel Weekly’s Flickr picture galleries