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Friday, March 29, 2024

NY Govorner Announces $450 Million Tourism and Jobs Inclusive Recovery Package

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Earlier today at the Museum of Natural History in New York City, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a comprehensive $450 million “Bring Back Tourism, Bring Back Jobs” inclusive recovery package to support New York State’s hardest-hit tourism sector workers, revitalize the state’s tourism industry, and support businesses started just prior to or during the pandemic. Today’s announcement coincided with the reopening of international borders.

(Don Pollard/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

At the Museum of Natural History, the Governor was joined by representatives from I LOVE NY, NY Forever, tourism and business groups, as well as labor groups representing workers in the tourism industry. This package of programs represents a multi-faceted approach to revitalizing the industry through assistance for workers, investments in small businesses, and consumer-focused marketing around the nation and the world.

Watch the entire announcement :

Hochul noted at the press conference

But one thing I know for sure, as someone who stays at a hotel in New York City and has been for seven years, sometimes three, four, five, six days a week, the hotels are not back. Our tourism related businesses like charter buses that used to transport people from the city across the state to Niagara Falls, they’re not back.  The cleaners of the hotels. I mean, there are so many jobs that are still not back yet and we cannot be blind to this any longer. We cannot just say they’ll be back tomorrow; just keep holding on. People have been holding on a long time since they lost their extended unemployment benefits back in September. I’m an optimist. They will come back, but we need them to hold on just a little bit longer and give them some help because when it does come back, we don’t want the verse crisis of how towels are all ready to open, but there’s no workers ready to step in who are trained and experienced, who understand how important hospitality is to our success, that welcoming face that I always see when I go into my hotel no matter how late it is at night. People always make me feel part of the family.
That’s what today is about. Our hotel industry room occupancy is down 20 percent statewide; 30 percent in New York City. The state comptroller’s office estimated that we’ve had a $60 billion hit to tourism. And we talked about the people who lost their jobs and who are still waiting for jobs to come back. They’re younger, they’re lower paid, they’re immigrants, many without college degrees. You can’t just say, oh, you don’t have your job here, why don’t you go work in advanced manufacturing? Or why don’t you go pick up a job coding? That’s not going to happen. They just need a little help a little bit longer.
So my recognition is that New York will not come back until everyone’s back in their jobs. We bring back tourism, we bring back jobs – and that’s why today I’m very proud to announce a $450 million investment in our tourism workers and our businesses.
First in the nation – we’re doing it right here in the State of New York, first in the nation to make that level of investment in our people and in our industries.

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