tourists on the town

Talk to any New Yorker who’s walked through Times Square recently and you’ll hear all about how tourists seem to have taken over the city, especially in the summer. An April 2019 report by NYC and Company found that 65.1 million people visited New York City in 2018, over 11 million more than in 2013.

So what keeps tourists flocking to the Big Apple at unprecedented rates?

Tourist Central“We heard it’s a great place for tourists and people who want to go on vacation,” said Josh Bekele, who visited New York from Virginia last week. “They say it’s really nice, and it is.” Bekele traveled to New York for a two-day visit with his father, Zack Bekele, and family friend Mike Haily, who also noted New York’s reputation as a center of tourism.

“We came because New York is a tourist city and a center of business around the world,” Haily said. “So that’s why we came to see Times Square. And, especially me, I want to see where the Stock Exchange buildings are.”

New Yorkers Rude? No Way!Many first-time visitors, like the Bekeles and Haily, make sure to hit major tourist sights. Although the Kumar family, who drove to Boston and New York from their home in Toronto, Canada, saw the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and Times Square, they said that getting a real sense of the city’s energy was more important to them than seeing every attraction.

“We didn’t want to do the bus tours,” said Vic Kumar, who traveled with his wife, Puja, and two sons. “They’re so impersonal. You want to go there and feel it yourself. Even if it is not everything, but we’ll touch two or three main sights.”

Puja Kumar felt that the city’s energy matched its famous reputation. “I think the city doesn’t sleep,” Puja Kumar said. “It’s like always a lot of people.”

The Kumar family agreed, however, that not everything they’ve heard about New York proved to be true. “The impression is New Yorkers are rude,” Vic Kumar said. “It’s the opposite, in fact. We’ve had a very good experience overall.”

Once is Not EnoughLots of people seem to share Kumar’s feeling, since so many who have visited before keep coming back. Tampa resident Ashley Howard, who traveled to New York with her friend’s family, noted striking differences in the city since she last visited just a few years ago. “I came about eight to 10 years ago, but I feel like it’s my first time all over again because the city’s changed a lot since then,” Howard said. “We did the 9/11 Memorial, which was probably my favorite personally because when I was here last the memorial wasn’t [finished]. It was just where you could go and it was just Ground Zero still.”

Something in the Air Although Howard said she was enjoying her trip, she had one complaint that most New Yorkers could easily understand. “The smell and the trash,” Howard said. “It is overwhelming. It’s different, especially toward the end of the day, when the trash kind of gets built up. It’s new for us. We don’t have that in Tampa.”

Howard was not alone in her grievance with the city’s odors. When asked what he enjoyed least about the city, Heber Valley, Utah resident Troy Turner had a very simple answer.

“The smells,” Turner said.

A Change of PaceHowever, that didn’t stop Turner, his wife, Wendy, and their four sons from having a great time on their trip, which also included stops in Boston and Washington D.C. The vacation was the idea of Troy and Wendy’s eight-year-old son, Tyson. “We liked it,” Troy Turner said. “We live in like a resort mountain town, so the big city’s a little different. We like the resort mountain town but this is a good experience for us.”

Although New York is starkly different from Heber Valley, the Turners were impressed by the ease at which they were able to get around the city. “It’s walkable and transportation is great,” Wendy Turner said. “It’s easy to get around.”

Interestingly, many New Yorkers do not share her sentiment. A 2019 survey conducted by Speaker of the City Council Corey Johnson found that 62 percent of respondents were either unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the subway system.

A Slice of the CityHowever, the Turners did have one opinion of New York that any New Yorker would fight to defend: How good the pizza is. “Lombardi’s pizza was really good,” Troy Turner said. “We ate a bunch of pizza there.”