http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/28/nyregion/28tourism.html
January 28, 2005
Big Apple by the Pound
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
"Sheila Riley came for Macy's, evidenced by the pile of telltale red bags
piled around her feet. Russell Whitehead and Robert Archibald made the trip
for "Wicked." Jeff Taylor wanted to propose.
Seb Sims's goals were admittedly more prosaic and yet they pleased him. "I
came to New York to go shopping and get drunk," said Mr. Sims as he headed
for a southbound No. 1 to "Greenwich." (No, not Connecticut, but why
embarrass him?)
Tourists from overseas - the most coveted of visitors thanks to their long
stays and habit of shopping with abandon - are returning to New York for the
first time since 2001, and no place is exporting more of them to the city
than Britain, whose citizens are lured by the combination of a falling
dollar, low air fares and an apparently insatiable lust for sneakers on the
cheap.
The British pound, which fetches almost $2 these days, goes farther in New
York than in London in restaurants, theaters and stores, and rock-bottom
package deals from the airlines make a quick weekend jaunt across the
Atlantic all the more worthwhile.
Then there is the shared language, coupled with that intangible something
that is portrayed in film and television that shows the allure of a New York
absent career worries, apartment valuations and the incalculable misery
caused by the C train.
"We have all seen Woody Allen movies and ". and the City" and "NYPD Blue,"
said Frances Tuke, a spokeswoman for Association of British Travel Agents in
London, which found that airline travel to New York from London rose 127
percent in November from the same month in 2003. "So you think it is an
exciting place you have to go to. We don't hear that it is particularly
dirty or unsafe. They know it is a big city and it is going to be loud and
noisy and that is all O.K."
The city's tourism bureau estimates that 5.3 million foreign tourists came
to New York last year, far fewer than the 6.8 million who flooded the city
in 2000 but up 10 percent from 2003. Initial estimates show that the number
of tourists from Britain rose 12 percent in 2004 from 2003, when the group
led the return of international tourism to New York with 870,000 visitors.
(Canadians came in second with 690,000 and Japanese tourists were a distant
third, with 292,000 visitors in 2003.)
Although most foreign visitors stay longer than domestic tourists, many
visitors from Britain come for short stays, taking advantage of airline and
hotel packages that land them in the city for long weekends into which they
pack a whirlwind tour of the key Manhattan tourist destinations, peppered
with quick stops at restaurants and bars culled from guidebooks. Anthony
Thomas, a scaffold worker who flew over for a long weekend with his wife,
Nadine, liked McSorley's Old Ale House. "I liked that fact that it kept to
its nature and that everyone who worked there was surly," he said.
Mr. Taylor, a sergeant in the British Army, saw an image of the city on
television while home in Liverpool, and decided that it was the place to
propose to Heather Stokoe, a sales associate from Newcastle. "I thought that
it seemed like quite a romantic place to propose," he said. He planned a
long weekend in the city with requisite stops at Planet Hollywood,
Bloomingdale's and Macy's and a ride in a horse-drawn carriage in Central
Park. "It was there I asked her to marry me," Mr. Taylor said. "It was quite
emotional, really." His bride-to-be was thrilled.
Some random facts about British visitors, gleamed from several days of
observing them:
¶They have an almost alarming interest in shoes, particularly sneakers (or,
as they call them, trainers). "I got loads of Diesel trainers," said Mr.
Whitehead, an actor from London. "They are a quarter of the price here. I
bought three pairs for $25 each."
¶They drink such concoctions as dry vermouth with Sprite (called a martini
and lemonade) and Stella Artois beer with a shot of Rose's lime juice. "They
also get really tickled about fancy cocktails," said Sara Najjar, a
bartender at the Hotel Metro, which is a veritable outpost of tourists from
England and Scotland. "I guess because they can only get beers in their pubs
over there. It's just crazy!"
¶They flock to Macy's as Americans might flock to Buckingham Palace, and at
the department store they sate their appetite for hats, watches, handbags
and coats. The store had more than 20,000 British shoppers last year, and
company officials report they take advantage of the store's 11 percent
discount for international visitors more than those of any other
nationality.
All international tourists have their quirks, and New York City loves all of
them because they tend to stay longer, spend more money at museums and the
like and are more enthusiastic about visiting the broader city than American
tourists, said Cristyne L. Nicholas, president of NYC & Company, the city's
tourism office.
"The Japanese and Germans love jazz," she said. "The new MOMA opening is
great for the French." The city has also run promotions in Japan featuring
Japanese players for the Mets and the Yankees and has put together packages
that feature games and tours of the stadiums.
"The Chinese are coming in leaps and bounds now that more of them are
getting visas," Ms. Nicholas said, "but they won't come to New York because
we don't have casino gambling. Las Vegas gets them."
British travelers typically like cultural attractions and shopping, Ms.
Nicholas said. The number of visitors at Hotel Metro from England has soared
about 30 percent over the last two years, said Linda Davis, director of
sales for the hotel. On Tuesday afternoon, Gerald and Moira McGinty, who
live outside Glasgow, waited nervously for their son David and his friend,
Liam Hanlon, to join them in the lobby for their car trip to the airport,
which was arriving in minutes. Seems some last-minute (shoe) shopping was
occurring on Eighth Street.
Among their bags was an electric guitar, bought for $1,400 rather than
£2,000 in Scotland. They had their Tiffany key rings. They had their
"Chicago" programs. And, sorry Jean-Georges, they had their memories of TGI
Friday's.
Mr. Taylor and Ms. Stokoe feel they saw it all, too. Central Park, Macy's,
Planet Hollywood, the bar of Hotel Metro. Ground zero was "eerie, an
emptiness," he said. "Someone tried to sell us photographs of the planes
going into the buildings. We weren't interested. We grabbed a cab to
Chinatown instead."
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