If you follow any kind of financial news, you've noticed that gold and oil are off the charts, the Taj Mahal is no longer accepting our dollar and Bush continues to say things are just peachy. Well, there may be some truth in that, for New York City. For every action there is some sort of reaction in economics, and for the sake of the dollar and it plunging against other countries, that is good news for the Big Apple.
From WCBS-TV:
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― With a falling dollar sweetening the deal, a rising number of international travelers chose the city as their destination in 2007, spurring a record-setting year that saw visitors spend an estimated $28 billion in the metropolis, tourism officials said.
With a final count still pending, the city's tourism office said Sunday that an estimated 46 million people had visited the city in 2007 -- up 5 percent from the year before. The jump was largely due to visitors from other countries, who numbered an estimated 8.5 million -- a growth of 17 percent.
George Fertitta, chief executive of city tourism office NYC & Company, said the visitors were drawn by more than a favorable exchange rate and the city's international marketing efforts.
Sure, marketing efforts are nice, but it really comes down to the deals to be had for foreign tourists that flock to the city. Prices in London are more than double for much of the same stuff that you find in stores here. Basically just scratch out the dollar sign and replace it with the sign for the pound on the tags.
So Americans are getting screwed nationwide and their money is increasingly worth less and less and George keeps telling us how great things are, despite the recession that is beginning to hit us. At least New York gets a little extra revenue, though in the end $28 billion is a drop in the national bucket.
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