New York City: Apple of our eye

By Jeannine Defoe

Bloomberg News

NEW YORK — America's No. 1 tourist destination, New York City, is packed with more visitors this summer than ever, creating jobs, pumping billions into the economy — and making life miserable for some residents used to having the city to themselves Visitors have been pouring in at a pace that will bring the total for the season to 12 million, a 4 percent increase over last year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference at the midpoint of the summer.

Average hotel occupancy in June was the highest on record, and getting a table on a Friday or Saturday night at hot restaurants such as Per Se is almost impossible. The influx from overseas and across the country, not to mention the suburbs, is just a little much for some New Yorkers. Accustomed to a few quiet weeks each year when friends and colleagues desert for the shore, they're fighting long lines, sold-out theaters and implacable maitre'ds.

"Every time I go to a restaurant, if it's near Midtown and it's halfway good, it's full," said Tim Zagat, co-founder of New York-based Zagat Survey, which publishes annual restaurant guides. "That wasn't true a year or two ago."

Zagat had to call chef Thomas Keller directly to satisfy requests from friends seeking to eat at Per Se, Keller's restaurant in the Time Warner Center.

"They were having trouble getting in, and I was having trouble getting them in," he said.

Tourists are New York City's fifth-largest industry, according to Lisa Mortman, a spokeswoman for NYC & Co., the city's tourism and convention bureau. Visitors generate about $24 billion a year in economic activity, supporting almost 300,000 jobs.

"These are jobs to people who want to feed their families," Bloomberg said during last month's news conference at South Street Seaport, a tourist destination in lower Manhattan.

Last month, New York was chosen as the top U.S. tourist destination for the fifth straight year, according to a readers' poll conducted by Travel & Leisure Magazine. San Francisco placed second and Santa Fe, N.M., third in the poll, which required voluntary responses by either mail or through the Internet.

The dollar's 12.5 percent rise against the euro this year hasn't discouraged tourists from overseas either, who Bloomberg said spend about five times more than domestic visitors. They are expected to account for 1.2 million of this summer's tourists, an 8 percent increase from last season, according to NYC & Co.

A record-low crime rate is part of the attraction. "This was a tough city, but in the last 20 years the reputation has improved dramatically," said Ross Woods, head of the New York hotel practice for consulting firm

PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The majority of visitors feel reasonably safe."

The tourist influx is evident in Broadway revenue statistics released by the League of American Theatres and Producers. For example, on one July week "The Phantom of the Opera" sold $814,857 of tickets, up 17 percent from two months earlier. "It's annoying," said Skanthan Vivekanada, a lawyer for law firm Cleary Gottlieb in lower Manhattan, said of the hordes of tourists who visit the World Trade Center site across the street from his office. "Everything is sold out."

Hotel workers are among those feeling the impact of the tourists most directly. The city's hotel occupancy rate in June averaged 90.4 percent, the highest ever for that month and the best month in any part of the year since 1999, according to hotel-research firm PKF Consulting in New York. The previous year's average was 87.2 percent.

"It's been crazy and insane," said Laura Bennett, a concierge for the Rihga Royal New York on West 54th Street, answering interview questions as three other phone lines were on hold. The hotel's 505 suites were sold out over the weekend.

"They all hear about Spice Market and Tao and Balthazar, and they're the only places they want to eat," said Bennett. "When you've got 40 guests asking for the same reservation, it's tough."

At the 102-story Empire State Building, 13,000 visitors take in the views on a typical day. Bob Zorn, director of observatories, said the skyscraper charges $30 — more than double the regular $14 admission fee — for guests who want to bypass the lines.

Visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 2-million-square-foot home to works by artists including van Gogh and Gauguin on Fifth Avenue, are encouraged to come before 11 a.m., said spokesman Harold Holzer.

Even New Yorkers who gripe about tourists admit they appreciate the visitors.

While "there are a lot of irritating things about people from out of town," it is good to see them making the effort, said Don Christensen, a 56-year-old freelance writer who lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Going to "Disney World and being told what to do," is easier than coming to New York, Christensen said. "It's a confusing city. Sometimes I get confused. To see the people trying to absorb what this city is all about, it's great."

That's So New York