Makiko Matsuda Healy, Senior Vice President, Tourism Market Development, New York City Tourism + Conventions shares insight on the growth of the Indian outbound market in an interaction with Travel Trade Insider.
Q. How many Indians travelled to the destination last year and what are your expectations for 2024?
A. New York City welcomed a total 62.2 million travellers in 2023, marking a recovery of 93% of the City’s record 2019 visitation levels. It remains on track to welcome 64.8 million visitors this year.
Our latest tourism figures indicate that in 2023, India was the eleventh largest international source market for New York City and the second largest in Asia. The market exceeded pre-Covid levels with 380,000 Indian travellers visiting NYC in 2023, and we expect the market to reach more than 400,000 this year – a six percent increase.
This is an incredibly exciting time in New York City, with major investments in our airports; new and iconic hotels; fantastic culinary offerings; a robust Broadway season; culture and sightseeing; and many milestone events in the coming years. We look forward to welcoming the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, CONMEBOL Copa America tournament and Sail Grand Prix this summer, in the lead up to the very exciting 2026 FIFA World Cup, where New York City/New Jersey will host eight matches including the final.
Q. What are the travel trade and consumer initiatives planned for this year to grow tourist arrivals from India?
A. Our annual sales mission in India took place from January 29th to February 2nd in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Delhi. As part of this mission, representatives of the NYC Tourism delegation engaged with key stakeholders and travel agencies in three feeder cities – including Ahmedabad (this was our first time back, post-pandemic) – across India and showcased the diverse offerings that New York City has for Indian travellers.
The mission this year featured a range of activities, including B2B meetings, and networking events. Through these engagements, NYC Tourism + Conventions showcased the city’s iconic landmarks, diverse neighborhoods, and world-renowned dining, shopping and entertainment options. We were pleased to be joined in-market by six partners: the Empire State Building, Trump International Hotel & Tower NY, Hudson Yards, Millennium Hotels, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, and Madame Tussauds.
New York City Tourism + Conventions plans to launch the global tourism campaign in India in the second quarter of 2024, with the goal of driving visitation. We look forward to sharing the details soon.
Q. Any other plans/focus areas for the Indian market?
A. Recently, we introduced the Travel Trade Academy program, thoughtfully enriched with Hindi subtitles to ensure that the Indian travel trade can fully engage with the five-borough destination. By incorporating Hindi subtitles, we aim to empower the trade to adeptly respond to evolving consumer demands, providing a diverse and personalized array of NYC experiences that resonate with the preferences of the Indian audience.
The NYC Travel Trade Academy is a free, online, educational training tool, available with subtitles in 10 languages including Hindi. The Travel Trade Academy is a self-driven learning platform to equip the global travel trade with essential destination knowledge about New York City. It aims to showcase a broad range of products and services, both new and established, in each of the five boroughs to inspire travel operators and agents to build New York itineraries for their customers.