China Overseas Chinese Network, November 19, according to the US "World Journal" report, a few days ago, the latest report released by the New York City Tourism Bureau showed that under the severe blow of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the tourism industry, which is extremely important for the survival and development of New York City, suffered It is severely damaged and the recovery process will be extremely slow, and it may not return to pre-epidemic levels until 2025.

The report pointed out that there were only 22.9 million tourists in New York City in 2020, a decrease of 66% from last year. Considering the impact of the epidemic on the economy and passenger confidence, it may take four years for the New York City tourism industry to return to the level of 2019. ; More ideally, if commercial travel and large-scale events and conferences return to normal in 2022 with the spread of vaccines, the New York City tourism industry may return to its former prosperity in three years.

City Tourism Bureau Director and Chief Executive Dixon said that the revitalization of New York City’s tourism industry will be a slow process, depending on when the new crown pneumonia vaccine will be universally vaccinated. In addition, compared with domestic tourism, due to many travel restrictions, New York City The rate of recovery of international tourism, which is vital to the development of the city, will be slower.

James Parrott, Director of Economic and Fiscal Policy of the New York City Affairs Center, said that the decline in the tourism industry has had a more dramatic impact on employees with lower levels of education. People with an education background provide jobs to help them establish a foothold in New York City and provide financial support, and 80% of the hotel industry employees are ethnic minorities. This industry provides valuable employment opportunities for many new immigrants.

According to the forecast of the Municipal Tourism Bureau, the number of tourists in New York City may reach 38.2 million next year, but less than 5 million of them will come from outside the United States. By 2024, the number of tourists in New York City may return to 69 million, but among them outside the United States The number of passengers still cannot return to the heyday of 2018 and 2019. (Jin Chunxiang)