New York reopens for business
Christopher Heywood, vice president of communications for the city’s marketing arm NYC & Company, told TravelMole that 95% of tourism infrastructure is back to normal after last week’s devastating storm.
But despite the Statue of Liberty reopening on the Sunday before Hurricane Sandy hit, the Statue of Liberty itself, Liberty Island and Ellis Island will all be closed "for the foreseeable future", see other story.
Travel agents with clients due to fly out within the next few days, or those taking new bookings for last-minute travel, are advised to re-confirm with hotels that they are ready to take new visitors. Up to 15 hotels remain closed, including several on West 57th Street where a crane collapsed and smashed into buildings. These are expected to reopen this week. The 9/11 Memorial has just reopened on a modified schedule.
"New York City is back on its feet," said Heywood. "All the major hotels, tourist attractions, Broadway and the museums are open and more than 80% of public transportation has been restored. We are confident that business is going to get back to normal as the busy holiday season approaches.
"We would encourage people coming to New York to continue with their travel plans, but they shoudl re-confirm their booking and if people are booking a trip specifically to see the Statue of Liberty or the 9/11 Memorial, agents should let them know they aren’t open at the moment."
Agents can get up to date information on NYC’s website at www.nycgo.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nycgo.
Heywood said the storm, which slammed into the city last week, damaging buildings and causing severe flooding, was not likely to have the same adverse effect on bookings as the 9/11 terrorist attack.
"We aren’t hearing of many widespread concerns here at WTM, but we are still in tourism recovery phase, it’s a fluid situation. so we don’t know yet what the long-term impact will be."
Heywood pointed out that parts of New York, including Staten Island and Queens, were still suffering infrastructure problems and damage from the storm is still evident in these areas, away from the city’s main tourist centre.
Diane
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