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| // (c) 2011 NYC & Company |
Details of a new campaign, “Get More NYC: Lower Manhattan,” were outlined by New York City officials this week as a global campaign designed to promote Lower Manhattan to visitors and travel media is being launched on June 1. One highlight of the plan is the opening of the 9/11 Memorial on September 12, 2011.
The Get More NYC: Lower Manhattan campaign was designed to illustrate the recovery and revitalization of Lower Manhattan in the last decade. The campaign will encourage visitors to stay in Lower Manhattan’s hotels, eat in its restaurants, shop in its stores and experience all the neighborhood has to offer. Lower Manhattan continues to grow with new residents, businesses, cultural attractions and open space, including the 9/11 Memorial.
The announcement took place during the U.S. Travel Association’s International Pow Wow in San Francisco. During a press conference, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered a pre-taped video address to an audience of leading international travel writers and travel industry partners, which was led by NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta and National September 11 Memorial & Museum President and CEO Joe Daniels.
“A crucial part of the story of September 11th is how Lower Manhattan—an area many people said would turn into a ghost town—has come back in the past 10 years,” said Bloomberg. “People from across the country - and around the world have contributed to its revival, and now we want our visitors to see that full recovery for themselves. Lower Manhattan is where the first chapters in the remarkable story of New York City were written four hundred years ago. And it’s where the next installment of New York City’s story is being written today.”
“In the months and weeks leading up to the 10th anniversary of September 11 and the opening of the 9/11 Memorial, Lower Manhattan will be a focal point for the world,” said Fertitta. “We are prepared and look forward to welcoming visitors and locals to Lower Manhattan and encouraging them to experience a neighborhood that has seen a dramatic revitalization in the last decade.”
The Get More NYC: Lower Manhattan campaign will formally begin on June 1. It will include new travel itineraries; consumer hotel offers promoting weekend stays with a complimentary Downtown Culture Pass; 20-percent-off offers at Lower Manhattan shops, restaurants, attractions and cultural institutions; outdoor media ads promoting Lower Manhattan throughout the City’s five boroughs; a taxicab monitor spot promoting Lower Manhattan; and an initiative to promote Lower Manhattan to meeting planners.
The area of Lower Manhattan includes the neighborhoods of Financial District, Battery Park City, as well as the city’s waterfront harbor, which provides easy access to Brooklyn and Staten Island.
A key part of the Get More NYC: Lower Manhattan campaign is a new welcome program at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 4, which will launch this summer with colorful and vibrant posters, wall clings and column wraps showing imagery of the City with a particular emphasis on Lower Manhattan. The campaign will promote Lower Manhattan as a place to stay, and for those who stay elsewhere, it will encourage them to travel downtown by mass transit.
To communicate all of what Lower Manhattan and the city’s five boroughs have to offer, NYC & Company also today announced a global social media initiative to promote the city’s attractions and events to key international markets.
A first for a U.S. destination, NYC & Company will reach international consumers, journalists and the travel trade in nine of its international markets via customized, language-specific Facebook and Twitter feeds in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK.
Also part of the campaign will be geo-targeted content on NYCGo.com’s mobile site (m.nycgo.com) highlighting venues in Lower Manhattan, must-see listings and maps. To access the site, users can type “nycgo.com” into their mobile phone’s browser. Using the “What’s Nearby” feature, users can access top attractions, museums, restaurants, shops, bars and clubs with maps, navigation and descriptions, all near the visitor’s current location.
In addition, the NYC CityStore, the official store of the City of New York, will offer a 20 percent discount on all merchandise from June 21 to July 31. Complete information on the Get More NYC: Lower Manhattan campaign can be accessed beginning on June 1 at NYCG.com/getmorenyc.
After a dedication ceremony on September 11, the 9/11 Memorial will open to the public the day after. While construction of the World Trade Center continues, access to the memorial will be managed through a free online timed reservation system, which will go into effect in July at 911memorial.org. The 9/11 Memorial staff is taking major steps to help minimize the impact of charter tour buses on the Lower Manhattan community by working with the tourism industry to set up a Transportation Partners Program.
Transportation Partners will offer alternatives to tour buses, such as ferries to Lower Manhattan and hop-on/hop-off buses, which will not require parking. Group visitors will be encouraged to use Transportation Partners to travel to the emorial. Through the timed reservation system and the Transportation Partners Program, visitors can also plan itineraries that encourage them to experience other historic sites and attractions in Lower Manhattan.
“This September the public will be able to pay their respects at the 9/11 Memorial and stand in the heart of the World Trade Center site, witnessing the historic rebuilding taking place around them,” said 9/11 Memorial President and CEO Joe Daniels. “We look forward to helping the public plan visits to the Memorial and we will encourage them to take advantage of all that Lower Manhattan has to offer.”
Since 2001, Lower Manhattan has experienced remarkable growth in the number of visitors and hospitality-related services, NYC & Company reported. Nearly 20 hotels with an estimated 5,000 hotel rooms are located in the downtown area, and three new hotels with a total of 769 rooms will debut later this year. Several new hotels have already opened their doors in Lower Manhattan, including the World Center Hotel, Andaz Wall Street, W New York – Downtown and the DoubleTree by Hilton New York City–Financial District.
Tourism to New York City’s five boroughs reached record levels in 2010, with 48.7 million visitors and $31 billion in visitor spending. New York City remains the number-one destination in the U.S. for overseas travelers, and NYC & Company is on track to achieve Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of 50 million annual visitors by 2012. Tourism is the city’s fifth largest industry, supporting some 320,000 jobs.
Visit www.nycgo.com.