The New York City Eco🐼nomy Tracker is a joint project between Investopedia and , using publicly available data to evaluate the economic health of the city across a variety of metrics.

For the week of December 18, 2023, we’re looking at how travel and hotel occupancies have increased in New York City since last holiday season, but visitors to tourist attractions have decreased.

Travel ꦡand Lodging Outpacing Popular Tourist Attractions 

As the year winds down, air travel and hotel stays have increased in New York City this holiday season, but visitors to the city’s most popular tourist attractions have decreased. According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, there were an estimated 12.4 million passengers combined at NYC regional airports in October 2023, 6.2% more than the estimated 11.7 million passengers in October 2022.

NYC airports saw a rise in international passengers in particular. International passengers jumped by almost 17% from 3.5 million to 4.1 million since last year, wh🅘ile domestic passengers increased by 1.6% from 8.1 million to 8.2 million over the same period. This growth in international passengers was driven by the jump in international travel at both Newark International and🐎 JFK airports, up 21% and 14% since last year, respectively. That’s an estimated 548,496 more international passengers from those two airports alone.

Hotel occupancies in NYC have also increased compared to last year’s holiday season. According to data from the Times Square Alliance via STR, the weekly average hotel occupancy rate in Manhattan was 83.5% in November 2023, which was an estimated 4.7% greater than November of 2022.

Hotel occupancy rates are an important indicator for the health of the NYC tourism industry, and the fact that they have been growing steadily on a year-over-year basis since the COVID-19 pandemic is a positive sign for the overall NYC tourism economy.

Visitors in Times꧑ Square and Broadway Shows Down

However, ꦛdespite the uptick in both travel and lodging rates in the city, a few NYC’s popular tourism activities have actually not seen growth from the holiday season last year. Specifically, pedestrians in Times Square and attendance at Broadway shows is actually lower as of November 2023 co🍬mpared to last November.

According to data from the Times Square Alliance, there were an estimated 254,511 pedestrians in the Times Square business district in Nov. ‘23, a full 7.4% fewer than the 274,912 the year before.

In fact, pedestrians in Times Square hav꧂e ♌been declining on a year-over-year basis since May of 2023 after 25 straight months of yearly increases coming out of the pandemic disruption.

Broadway show attendance has also declined since last year according to data from the Times Square Alliance via the Broadway League. The weekly average attendance for shows in November 2023 was only a reported 229,016, which was almos🎃t 12% fewer than the 259,629 that attended shows in November 2ܫ022. November 2023 was a particularly disheartening month, as it was the second straight month of year-over-year declines in attendance after October 2023 was down about 3.2% year-over-year. This is after nine straight months of year-over-year growth in attendance since the January 2022 Broadway reopening.

One particular note for Broadway shows is that the average attendance per show this November was around 8,266, which was actually 2.5% more than the 8,067 per show average in November 2019 and 4.2% more than the 7,936 per show average in November 2022. This is because the number of overall shows on Broadway has dropped from 35 in November 2019 to 33 in November 2022, all the way doꦿwn to 28 in November 2023.

These price increases have changed the total cost of car ownership for all New Yorkers who drive, and were the largest in nearly six years since the BLS has recorded data on the metro-area level. There are also a few components of car ownership that are still experiencing substantive inflation even now. Nationally, car insurance is 19.2% more expensive as of Oct. ‘23 compared to the year prior, and car repairs are 15.1% pricier since last year.

NYC Restaurant Reservations Down From Last Year

Lastly, data from OpenTable show that in November 2023, seated dining reservations on the platform were down about 2% from the previous year.Although not as specific to the tourism industry as Broadway shows or walking in Times Square, eating out at restaurants in the city is a commonplace activity for tourists as well as locals and is a notable component of the tourism economy. Year-over-year growth in restaurant reservations has not had two consecutive months of growth since January and February of 2023.

Most Indicators𓆉 Have Not Fully Rebounded to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Although both hotel occupancy and airport passengers have seen substantial year-over-year growth, the individuals in the planes and staying at the hotels haven’t fully translated to completing a full recovery for major tourist attractions like Times Square and💃 Broadway shows. As of November 2023, there are almost 19% fewer people seeing shows on Broadway♒ than in November 2019, and almost 25% fewer pedestrians in Times Square during the same period.

Not only are these two traditional mainstay tourism indicators not fully recovered to pre-pandemic averages, they are also declining year-over-year, which is not a positive sign fo🌃r the overall health of NYC’s tour🍬ism industry. 

If the tr🍎end of growth in airport usage—especially among international travelers—hotel occupancy, and other forms of transportation like Amtrak train usage continues alongside lackluster attendance at Broadway shows and Times Square, it might be an indication that tourists in the city are shifting to other attractions and ven💯ues in different parts of the city.