NYC & COMPANY LAUNCHES ARABIC-LANGUAGE GUIDE TO HALAL TRAVEL IN NYC DURING MIDDLE EAST SALES MISSION

NYC & COMPANY LAUNCHES ARABIC-LANGUAGE GUIDE TO HALAL TRAVEL IN NEW YORK CITY DURING MIDDLE EAST SALES MISSION

—Newly Released Translation Follows English-Language Guide Launched in Spring 2022—

—NYC Delegation to Meet and Re-engage Travel Trade Across Middle East Region from October 23-28—

Doha, Qatar (October 23, 2022) — NYC & Company, New York City’s official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau, today released a new Arabic-language version of the organization’s acclaimed Halal Travel Guide. NYC & Company, the first US tourism organization to create a dedicated resource for Muslim travelers, launched the translated guide during a Middle East Sales Mission engaging travel agents and tour operators across the region. Led by NYC & Company’s Makiko Matsuda Healy, Managing Director, Tourism Market Development and five New York City tourism partners, the sales mission will take place from October 23-28 in Doha, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. This comes as New York City’s tourism rebound continues with an expected 56.7 million visitors in 2022, roughly 85 percent of record 2019 visitation of 66.6 million. This year, international visitation is expected to triple to 8.3 million, including approximately 140,000 visitors from the Middle East.

“As tourism recovery accelerates and we continue to welcome global travelers to New York City, our goal is to provide trip planning resources which authentically reflect our diverse communities across all five boroughs–as well as those of our visitors,” said Fred Dixon, President and CEO of NYC & Company. “A major commitment to Muslim travelers was the launch of our Halal Travel Guide earlier this year–a first for any US destination. We’re pleased to now launch the new Arabic-language edition of our guide to halal travel in New York City, and we greatly look forward to welcoming visitors for their next vacation or business trip.”

First launched in English earlier this year, the evergreen Halal Travel Guide spotlights and encourages visitation to the rich abundance of halal restaurants, Muslim history, and tourism sites across New York City’s five boroughs. The guide, which also shares tips and advice from Muslim travel experts was created by NYC & Company, in partnership with halal-friendly travel authority Halal Trip/Crescent Rating.

The Muslim community has been an integral part of the fabric of New York City for nearly 400 years, with more than 275 mosques across all five boroughs—more than any other metro area in the United States. The guide includes prayer places and their distance/time from the featured attractions, restaurants, and hotels.

The Halal Travel Guide can be found at nycgo.com/HalalTravelGuide, and in PDF format in both English and Arabic.

As part of this week’s Middle East Sales Mission, NYC & Company will conduct business meetings and events with travel agents, protocol offices, concierge companies and online travel agencies. Participating New York City tourism partners include Hudson Yards, InterContinental New York Barclay, Lotte New York Palace, The Pierre, a Taj Hotel and SUMMIT One Vanderbilt, all of which are also featured in the Halal Travel Guide.

“We are pleased to return to the Middle East this week for our annual NYC sales mission. As we continue to rebuild tourism, it’s critical that we re-engage with the travel trade and continue to diversify our international outreach,” said Makiko Matsuda Healy, Managing Director, Tourism Market Development for NYC & Company. “New York City always evolves and reinvents itself, with new hotels, museum exhibitions, shopping, dining and attractions, plus 19 new Broadway shows debuting this fall alone. There is more to see and do than ever across all five boroughs, and we’re pleased to work with our trade partners to create new, iconic and unexpected experiences for Middle Eastern travelers.”

New York City is currently home to 124,000 hotel rooms, with more than 10,000 additional rooms expect to open in the next two years. Notable highlights include the recent opening of Aman New York and Hard Rock Hotel New York, as well as the City’s second Ritz-Carlton.

Additional destination updates include 19 new Broadway shows debuting this autumn; developments across infrastructure and transportation including upgrades across the region’s three major airports; arts and culture including the soon-to-open Museum of Broadway, The Louis Armstrong Center and the American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center; performing arts venues such as Lincoln Center’s reimagined David Geffen Hall which just opened and the iconic Apollo Theater expansion in 2023; culinary highlights from new fine dining establishments to unique food halls across the five boroughs; retail including the renovated Tiffany & Co. Flagship on Fifth Avenue, the brand-new Hermès Flagship on Madison Avenue and the return of Century 21; shopping tours including Like a Local Tours’ “Sustainable Brooklyn Food & Fashion Tour” and Madison Avenue Business Improvement District’s “The Madison Avenue Luxury Shopping Experience”; and more.

Additional information can be found in NYC & Company’s recently-released What’s New and Upcoming in New York City factsheet.

NYC & Company has launched the following guides to exploring the five boroughs Like a New Yorker: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. For more details, visit nycgo.com/explore. 

In addition, NYC & Company has invested in new permanent multicultural content and destination guides on NYCGO.com, including The Black Experience in NYC, The Latino Experience in NYC and The Asian Experience in NYC.

For more on all there is to see and do in New York City’s five boroughs, go to nycgo.com.

About NYC & Company:

NYC & Company is the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the City of New York, dedicated to maximizing travel and tourism opportunities throughout the five boroughs, building economic prosperity and spreading the positive image of New York City worldwide. For all there is to do and see in New York City, visit nycgo.com.

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