New York comes calling

A continuous growth in Indian arrivals has prompted NYC & Company to actively reach out to the trade and stress on nothing but education about the dynamic city that is New York.

Even Frank Sinatra was affected by the magic of New York City. How then, can this perennial capital of culture, not touch a billion Indians who have some connection to the US, at some point or another in some way.

According to NYC & Company, the official marketing, tourism and partnership organisation, the city welcomed an estimated 231,000 visitors from India in 2013, a growth of seven per cent over the previous year.

This year, it is projecting a growth of six per cent in Indian arrivals over 2013. This kind of year-over-year growth has prompted NYC & Company to actively reach out to the Indian trade. It recently led a three-city delegation to India as part of the Brand USA Sales Mission 2014 to promote NYC’s five boroughs. Makiko Matsuda Healy, Senior VP (Global Tourism Development) at NYC & Company, who was part of this mission, was ecstatic with the response they received from the trade in Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi. “We added Bengaluru this year. As an IT city, we see major potential for business travel to NYC. We now want to highlight the affordability, accessibility and diversity of the five boroughs,” she said.

On the agenda, Healy says is “Education, education, education!” This is why they are encouraging agents to be part of the NYC Travel Training Academy. “This interactive programme features information on NYC’s hotels, offers, shopping, dining, culture – basically all information they need to become an official NYC Specialist,” she says.

For this, NYC is also conducting a trade familiarisation trip to the city this November with eight top agents. “This will be a very product- oriented trip, intensive learning experience,” she says.

Meanwhile, the NYC & Company office in India is also doing additional one- on- one sales calls with two of their partner suppliers who were down this time ( Broadway Collection and Empire State Building). “We have arranged for meetings in the northern belt this month, mostly touching New Delhi and Punjab. We also work very closely with the Visit USA committee for educational seminars, MICE events, etc,” she reveals.

Meanwhile, knowledge about visa processes is also looked into. “Getting a US visa is easier now. We therefore conduct regular seminars on visa at the consulate offices,” Healy added.

The interesting thing about Indian visitors, Healy says, is that they are very interested in experiencing the culture of NYC. “Broadway shows no longer need an explanation. Their queries now are: Which show is going on?” she says.