With Martha Chapman
06FEB08
Fred Dixon and George Fertitta: proud boosters of NYC
Tiffany Townsend and Marsha Mowers of NYC and Company
NYC Opens In YYZ
You can’t find anything much happier than two New Yorkers watching the Super Bowl Parade live on CNN from a posh Toronto hotel suite. They’re even happier when they see people they know in the parade. That’s because these guys just happen to be George Fertitta, chief executive officer of NYC and Company, and Fred Dixon, his senior vice president of tourism development. They don’t even mind missing the big parade because they’re here to open NYC and Company’s latest office, right here in YYZ.
Turns out we Canucks are pretty important down there in the Big Apple – they figure almost a million of us will visit there this year. We join quite a clan of cities which have a NYC & Co office…including Tokyo and Paris – and shortly India and Australia.
We all know about the shopping and the theatre that Canucks go for in New York….so what do the boys recommend a first-timer do?
“I’d walk Manhattan from top to bottom,” says Fertitta, “stopping at great museums like the Frick and at cute little restaurants.” Dixon recommends we do like the locals and take the advice of the “Next Stop” program, riding the subway one stop further than you intended – you never know what cool neighbourhood you might encounter.
All of which is going to be even more accessible thanks to Porter’s new air service to Newark from Toronto’s darling little Island Airport. “We’re thrilled to see Porter’s new route,” Fertitta adds, “After all, a day in New York City is like two or three in any other!”
Next up? Watch for travel agent training programs to come this summer…so you can take a bigger revenue bite of The Big Apple!© Open Jaw