New York's official tourism board, the New York City & Company, yesterday opened its first Irish office in a move to attract even more Irish visitors to the Big Apple.
The private, non-profit company has a membership of over 1,800 businesses in New York and a current budget of $16 million, 40 per cent of which is contributed by the City of New York. Last year, Ireland became the fastest-growing market of origin for visitors to New York city, but the tourism body hopes to entice even more Irish people to take a bite of the Big Apple by cashing in on the SSIA windfall.
"This campaign has been created to capitalise on the booming Irish economy," said John Donohue, managing director of Aereps, the local representative for the board in Dublin. "We are hoping to find opportunities to promote New York as a destination for Irish people. There is plenty of money about with the SSIAs."
New York is becoming an increasingly popular destination for Irish travellers. In 2005 there were over a quarter of a million Irish visitors in the city, a 38 per cent increase on the previous year. And 66 per cent of Irish people who choose a US holiday, visit New York. The tourist board's offices were opened by Adrian Flannery, chief adviser for Irish tourism and a radio presenter, and tourist board chief executive Cristyne Nicholas.
Appointed chief executive in 1999, Ms Nicholas's previous roles included director of communications for Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration and New Jersey spokeswoman for President Bush's re-election campaign.
At 28, Ms Nicholas was the youngest-ever director of communications for Mr Giuliani, and was charged with promoting New York's renewal after the September 11th attacks.
"Ireland has quickly become one of the fastest-growing visitor markets for New York city," Ms Nicholas said. "Since 2000, travel from Ireland to the city has grown 146 per cent and our forecasts indicate continued growth in 2006."
Irish visitors to New York: 2001-2005
2001 100,900
2002 80,600
2003 75,000
2004 183,000
2005 253,000
Markets of origin for visitors to New York: 2005
1. UK 1,169,000
2. Canada* 815,000
3. Germany 401,000
4. Japan* 299,000
5. Italy 292,000
6. France 268,000
7. Ireland 253,000
8. Australia 235,000
9. South Korea 228,000
10. Spain 205,000
* Preliminary figures
• All figures courtesy of New York City & Company