As the nation prepares to remember the tenth anniversary of September 11th, New York City will be at the center of ceremonial activities. With careful consideration, New Yorkers have been anticipating this day for months. And as an article from May’s Washington Times demonstrates, Mayor Bloomberg has been too.
Since last spring, the Mayor has been focused on telling the story of the Big Apple’s rebirth after the terrorist attacks, in an effort to rejuvenate tourism and bring people to Lower Manhattan.
Now, with the anniversary only days away, it appears that this work may have paid off.
The UK’s Daily Mail reports that tourism in New York City has finally returned to its pre-9/11 numbers. While it’s hard to say if Mayor Bloomberg is the person to be thanking for this, one thing is certain. Despite America’s economic downturn, New York City’s tourism industry has steadily been increasing for the past decade.
According to the New York Department of Labor, 42,000 employees specialized in traveler accommodations in 2010, the highest amount in twenty years. Furthermore, the city’s official marketing and tourism organization reveals that visitors have never spent as much as they did last year.
Although the most people react positively to these statistics, not everyone is excited about this tourism boom. As the Wall Street Journal explains, a number of tours and ticket sales resulted from the attacks. While it’s clear that the industry has rebounded since its derailment ten years ago, some New Yorkers believe that profits derived from visitors have been taken too far.