WTM 2016: NYC & Company brushes off projected dip in UK visitor numbers

UK visitor numbers to New York City are projected to dip this year after three years of growth.

However, tourism bosses believe growth in flight capacity, affordable hotel rates and a raft of new attractions will offset concerns around currency and political uncertainty.

 

 

Visitor numbers for 2016 are projected to be 1.196 million, a slight drop from the 2015 figure of 1.207 million.

 

 

Fred Dixon, chief executive of marketing organisation NYC & Company, said the broadly flat performance could be viewed as a positive result against the backdrop of a declining pound and uncertainty following the EU referendum.

 

 

“The UK is still our number one overseas market so we are relatively pleased that our forecast figure for 2016 is only marginally below what we were forecasting before the referendum,” he said.

 

 

“The UK has a real affinity with New York, and with so much happening across the five boroughs, we feel the outlook is still very positive.”

 

 

Dixon was speaking at WTM, where NYC & Company unveiled a collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures to create a marketing campaign linked to the upcoming release of Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

 

 

The Fantastic NYC campaign will highlight areas of the city featured in the film, which is set in the 1920s, and will include billboard advertising in London.