New York Voted "World's Best" City
By Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Earlier this month, New York received Travel + Leisure magazine's
prestigious World's Best Award, honoring our City as the best place
to visit in the United States and Canada. The rebirth of New York
as the number one city to visit was acknowledged in a survey conducted
by the country's leading travel magazine, which has a circulation
of nearly one million readers. This is just the latest sign of our
City's remarkable resurgence.
In 1991, New York City received 22 million visitors. Last year, more
than 37 million people made their way to the Capital of the World
- marking the sixth consecutive year our City has seen record tourism.
As the visitors continue to pour into New York, so do the awards and
honors. Our City has been bestowed with such diverse titles as "The
Number One Place for Business in North America" by Fortune
magazine, "The Best Sports City" by The Sporting News,
and the city with the "Best Food" by both Travel + Leisure
and a CNN/USA Today poll. In addition, Zagat's restaurant
guide company recently also ranked New York as the best city in the
country to visit. For the first time since the Zagat's survey began
in 1987, travel agents and travelers alike agree that New York is
the premier destination in the United States.
Our City's renewed reputation for excellence is built upon the dramatic
progress we've made in improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers.
This, along with the City's unprecedented drop in crime (earning us
yet another title as "The Safest Large City in America"),
is essential to understanding why so many more people have been drawn
to our museums, theaters, historic sites, parks, stadiums, restaurants,
stores, and hotels.
The way to further promote our thriving tourism industry is to continue
to expand upon the quality of life measures that have already proven
so successful. For example, the revived Times Square is again earning
its title as the Crossroads of the World through the constant flow
of tourists and New Yorkers alike. Because of this renewed activity,
we need to take proactive steps to help ensure the safety of pedestrians
and motorists in the area. That is why the Department of Transportation,
in coordination with the Department of City Planning, has begun the
second phase of a major traffic-calming plan for Times Square. The
plan consists of widening sidewalks, installing planters and pavement
markings to further separate pedestrians from vehicular traffic, and
other initiatives aimed at improving safety and maneuverability in
and around one of our most renowned and revitalized tourist attractions.
Our booming tourism industry has been a major catalyst in producing
a record number of jobs and moving a record number of people from
welfare to work. It has also supported the City's dramatic economic
resurgence. In order to remain the "World's Best," we must
constantly seek to build upon the improvements that have helped elevate
us to the top.
