NYC & Company, New York City’s marketing, tourism and partnership organization, has opened a new tourism and marketing office in India. The opening of this office is part of the company’s two-year plan to strengthen the impact of New York City’s $30 billion travel and tourism industry. The office opened in Mumbai. Travel to New York City from India grew by 47 percent last year to 157,000 visitors and generated an economic impact of $266 million.
The company has also unveiled welcome videos by television show host and cookbook author Padma Lakshmi, hotelier Sant Chatwal, and film director Mira Nair. NYC & Company also announced that the city’s television commercial, “This is New York City,” would expand into the Indian market, and previewed the third phase of the city’s “Just Ask the Locals” tourist appreciation campaign, which features Lakshmi. NYC & Company has also launched the New York City Online Training Academy for the India travel trade market.