TOURISM CENTRAL TO NEW YORK CITY RECOVERY

I recently came across Mayor Michael Bloomberg's City of New York Financial Plan 2011-2015 which was published a few weeks ago. It's a wide ranging 190 page document which should be of particular interest to those involved in charting a way forward here.
It seems that the reason New York City bounced back impressively from the financial crisis and the severe national recession was due to record profits on Wall Street and tourists flooding into the city (48.7 million in 2010). So, the tourism industry was one of the primary drivers of recovery in New York City. Furthermore -

• Hotel occupancy rates have not fallen below 80% since March 2009 despite the fact that an additional 6,5000 rooms were added in 2010 
• The average daily rate has risen 19% from a low of $219 in June 2009
• A record number of 316,000 people now work in hotels, restaurants, museums and other recreational venues
• The retail sector also benefetted from tourist activity. It added 4,000 jobs in 2010 and is expected to add an average of 3,500 jobs between 2011-2015
• Sales Tax revenues in 2011 and 2012 are forecast to rise by 5.2% annually 
• Hotel Tax revenue in 2011 is forecast to incease by 15.2% to $418 million (the tax rate is 5.875%) 

I think there are some lessons for Irish policymakers in this.