New York City tourism boosters will hit city streets as part of an effort to increase total visitors, particularly from overseas, by 14 percent to 50 million by the year 2015, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
The $5.7 million "Just Ask the Locals" campaign will employ 50 street marketers to approach tourists with advice on places to see, and include an advertising campaign featuring tips for tourists from celebrity New Yorkers including actor Robert DeNiro. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines will help with $4.5 million worth of billboard ads inside its new $1.3 billion terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
"This new and engaging welcome campaign will help us continue to grow the tourism industry, even as the rest of the country has experienced a decline in international tourism," the mayor said at a news conference inside the terminal, which officially opened today.
A record 43.8 million people visited the city in 2006, creating and supporting more than 368,000 jobs and providing $1.94 billion in tax revenue, the mayor said. Although foreigners made up just 17 percent of the total, they accounted for about 50 percent of the $24.7 billion spent by tourists last year, according to NYC & Co., the city's tourist bureau.
AMR Chief Executive Officer Gerard Arpey joined the mayor, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chairman Anthony Coscia and George Fertitta, chief executive officer of NYC & Co.
New York City-themed art on the walls inside the 1.58 million square-foot American Airlines terminal will produce a more "welcoming and enjoyable travel experience for visitors," Arpey said.
The terminal, about the size of two Yankee Stadiums, will be able to accommodate as many as 13 million visitors a year. Last year, it served 8.5 million customers, Arpey said.
On the posters, which will line the terminal's walls and appear at bus stops and other public places, DeNiro, star of such New York films as "Taxi Driver" and host of the Tribeca Film Festival, suggests travelers "Check it out" at 278 Spring Street, the location of the New York Fire Museum.
Actress Julianne Moore tells parents to "bring a stroller" even when children insist they can walk. Retired New York Giants football star Tiki Barber exhorts tourists to never order the deep dish pizza, his emphatic statement of preference for the New York City's famous thin-crusted pie.
"Poor customer service is not what this country needs."
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