Contact: Colleen Roche/Samantha Lugo (212) 788-2958
"This hotel is a major event for our tourism industry, for Marriott, and for the entire City," Mayor Giuliani said. "The City now has another high quality hotel for business travelers and other visitors from around the nation and around the world, and Courtyard by Marriott adds to its roster a high-profile location in the nation's hottest hotel market.
"And this event is just the first goal in a hat-trick for Marriott. Today they are also celebrating the opening of a Courtyard by Marriott on Third Avenue in Manhattan and the official grand opening of the New York Marriott Brooklyn. As a result, over 500 new jobs have been added to the record 270,900 private sector jobs that we created in the City over the past five years.
"That is why today we celebrate more than the opening of one landmark hotel. We celebrate the overall, ongoing resurgence of New York City as one of the nation's and the world's favorite destinations," the Mayor added. "New York's streets are clean and safe, our economy is surging, and our famous, diverse cultural life is as vibrant as it's ever been. Our new slogan is, "New York City: Come Visit the World". That is exactly why visitors come to the City. They come to see people from all over the world living together in one place, contributing their creativity and energy to the most vibrant and exciting urban center anywhere."
Joining the Mayor were Marriott International, Inc. Chair and CEO J.W. Marriott, Jr., Courtyard by Marriott Vice President Craig Lambert and Harry Gross, owner of the Courtyard by Marriott Times Square South Hotel.
Designed to meet the needs of the business traveler, the 244-room Courtyard by Marriott Times Square South, features a 650-square-foot meeting room, a fitness room, valet parking and a breakfast café. The hotel, owned by Granit Park LLC and managed by Crossroads Hospitality Company, is the first new hotel to be built in the fashion center since 1970.
The other two new Marriott properties are the 308-room Courtyard by Marriott Midtown East, located at 866 Third Avenue, and the New York Marriott Brooklyn, the first new hotel construction in Brooklyn in nearly 70 years. The 376-room upscale hotel is located at 333 Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn is already planning a 200-room expansion.
Marriott International, Inc. is a leading worldwide hospitality company with over 1,700 operating units in the United States and 53 other countries and territories. Marriott's ten New York City hotels include: the New York Marriott Marquis, the Courtyard by Marriott Times Square South, the Renaissance New York Hotel, the New York Marriott World Trade Center, the New York Marriott Financial Center, the New York Marriott East Side, the Courtyard by Marriott Midtown East, the New York Marriott Brooklyn, the LaGuardia Marriott and the Courtyard by Marriott LaGuardia.
"New York City is enjoying tremendous interest from potential travelers around the world as the news spreads of our cultural and economic renaissance, and our cleaner, safer streets," said Fran Reiter, President and CEO of the New York City Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We need to accommodate this demand with more hotel rooms, as well as meeting and convention space, and so we are very pleased to welcome these three new Marriotts to the New York City hotel landscape."
According to the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), New York City's new hotel development will increase the City's capacity to host more visitors, with approximately 5,000 new hotel rooms expected to bring capacity citywide to 65,000 by the year 2000.
In 1997, the Hotel Occupancy Rate increased to 83.9 percent, up from 82.5 percent in 1996. The NYC Hotel Room Nights Filled increased to 18,415,000 in 1997 from 17,726,000 in 1996. Tourists visiting New York City spent approximately $13.7 billion in 1997, with projections that 1998 will reach $14.3 billion.
CVB estimated that in 1997 the total number of people visiting New York City increased to 33 million from 29.1 million in 1996. Of that figure, 26.9 million were domestic visitors. The domestic visitor growth outpaced the other top ten U.S. destinations for domestic travel.
New York City was also the most popular U.S. destination for overseas visitors in 1997, receiving 5 million visitors, a 10 percent increase from 1996. Visitors from Canada and Mexico bring up the total international visitor count to 6 million.
New York City's tourism boom has been driven by the City's improved quality of life, dramatic reductions in crime, and upgraded infrastructure, and supported by rising consumer confidence levels, a strong national economy, falling unemployment and lower inflation.