Go ahead and ask the next person you see”What is the best city in the world?” If you hear “New York” for an answer, you’ve either stumbled into a proud New Yorker (very probable if you live in NYC), or maybe you’ve asked one of the 60.3 million tourists that have visited during 2016. That’s right, 60,3 million people have chosen NYC as the place to relax and kick back. Paradoxical as that may seem to some us, this is the seventh year of consecutive tourist growth. For the first time ever, the number of tourists in our city exceeded the 60 million mark. Big numbers, so we’ll help you visualize. Picture 60 million “I heart New York” T shirts, 60 million Iphone camera flashes going off, and 60 million confused faces looking for the subway exit.
Let’s take this figure and reflect on what makes our city so great and popular. Although rent can be annoying and traffic can be pain, NY has a special charm most of us have forgotten to tap. NYC is like a very pretty person, but we’ve seen her/him too much and have now gotten used to their charms. So let’s get those tourism numbers up. No, I don’t mean encourage more tourists from outside, although that’s also great. I mean let’s get more tourists from inside. You know the trope: be a tourist in your own city! Explore plans and discover places! Funny enough. maybe we needed 60 million tourists from all over the globe so we could appreciate the beauty of a corner bodega.
featured image source [flickr | Ed Yourdon]