New York City is expecting to welcome 1.01 million visitors from the UK this year, down from 1.06m in 2024.
Overall, the city anticipates it will attract 400,000 fewer visitors than last year and 3% fewer than it attracted pre-COVID.
New York City Tourism + Conventions Chief Executive Julie Coker said: “We were anticipating full recovery this year, but right now we are forecasting 64.1m visitors, which is a slight decrease to last year.”
To aid its recover, the city is targetting the luxury market, which accounts for 17% of its total visitors, with the UK its top market for both upscale and mainstream tourists.
“We really want to drill down on the affluent traveller, which is part of our strategy of recovery,” said Julie.
The city is updating its travel trade site NYC Travel Trade Academy, adding a password-protected luxury hub for travel agents, which will highlight the city’s five-star hotels, products and experiences to give ‘travel advisors inside tips’.
The luxury focus comes as the Waldorf Astoria New York, which shut for a major refurbishment in 2017, prepares to re-open its doors in September with 375 rooms and 372 private residences.
