What you should know
- Manhattan Retail Hubs Saw Major Boost in Foot Traffic Throughout 2024 Holiday Season, With Over 1 Million Visitors on Black Friday Alone
- Businesses Districts in Queens and Brooklyn Also Saw Increases in Traffic Compared to 2023
- Holiday Season Adds Nearly $500 Million to City’s Economy Every Year
- Data Highlights City’s Continued Draw as Global Holiday Destination, Boosting Tourism Sector
NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released new year-end data showing significant increases in foot traffic and tourism during the 2024 holiday season, with last year’s Black Friday and December weekends drawing millions of visitors to New York City’s retail and shopping districts. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) analyzed daily visitation on Black Friday and December weekends in 2024 — tracing foot traffic across traditional Manhattan tourism and retail hubs like Times Square and Fifth Avenue, as well as neighborhoods across the boroughs like Downtown Flushing in Queens and MetroTech in Brooklyn. The 2025 holiday season is poised to bring a significant boost to New York City’s economy and continue to put money back in New Yorkers’ pockets, making the city more affordable for working-class people.
“From lively holiday markets to iconic department stores, New York City’s holiday festivities add hundreds of millions of dollars to our economy and draw visitors from the across the entire country and from around the globe. Whether it’s opening up more streets for pedestrians through our city’s Holiday Streets program, keeping New Yorkers safe during major holiday events, or supporting small businesses across all five boroughs, our administration has helped grow our city’s holiday economy year after year,” said Mayor Adams. “But our administration’s work does not end in December. Thanks to smart investments in public safety and working people, we’ve broken the record for the most jobs and small businesses in city history multiple times and laid the groundwork for growth in the years to come.”
“Nothing compares to the holiday season in New York City, and the economic energy this time of year is something we can all celebrate throughout all five boroughs,” said NYCEDC President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “This year, we are thrilled to welcome the millions of visitors whose spending will generate a significant economic impact and uplift the local businesses that keep our neighborhoods and communities thriving, from Bryant Park to Flushing to Fordham and beyond.”
Key takeaways from the analysis include:
- Manhattan retail hubs like Bryant Park, Times Square, and SoHo remain the most popular destinations for holiday shopping, with foot traffic increasing significantly on Black Friday as well as on December weekends. Overall, more than 1 million people visited these shopping districts on Black Friday in 2024 alone.
- Weekend foot traffic throughout December showed a more varied picture, with several key tourist destinations posting impressive growth. Times Square welcomed 48,000 more visitors on an average weekend in December 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, while Fifth Avenue saw 27,000 more weekend visitors on average.
- Compared to typical weekends throughout the rest of the year, December weekends in 2024 saw a major spike in activity across several iconic destinations. Bryant Park was 2.6 times busier, Fifth Avenue was 2.3 times busier, and Times Square was 1.5 times busier than an average weekend in 2024.
- The data also underscores the importance of the holiday shopping season for New York City’s tourism sector. On Black Friday 2024, two-thirds of Times Square visitors were from outside the city and roughly half were from outside the metro area, highlighting the city’s continued draw as a global holiday destination.
- Business districts outside of Manhattan are also popular shopping destinations, primarily for city residents. In Queens, Jamaica and Flushing both attracted a combined total of nearly 170,000 visitors on Black Friday 2024, an increase of more than 11,000 from the prior year. Meanwhile, Fordham Road in the Bronx and Metrotech in Brooklyn also attract thousands of shoppers, and each experienced year-over-year growth of 11 percent on Black Friday.
- Every way the data is sliced, core business districts remain vital to the city’s economy, especially during the holiday shopping season. Increased spending and foot traffic drives seasonal employment across the city, providing job opportunities for city residents and generating more than $500 million in economic impact annually.
METHODOLOGY
NYCEDC used a variety of primary and secondary data sources to study the economic impact of the holiday season. The total economic impact estimate is based on seasonal retail employment, which NYCEDC analyzed through data from the New York State Department of Labor. The visitation and foot traffic data are based on NYCEDC’s analysis of anonymized cell phone mobility data from Placer.ai.
###