August 13olympics 1

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New York City Gets the Gold Medal for the Visitor Olympics

Mitchell L. Moss and Carson Qing

NYU Rudin Center for Transportation

August 13, 2012

New York City has won the gold medal for attracting more visitorsthan London over the past two weeks, despite the fact that London hostedthe 2012 Olympics during this time period. Athletes set new world records

in London and more people saw the Olympics on television than everbefore, but the City of New York actually attracted more visitors thanLondon.

While Londons East End and the Olympic Park thrived during theOlympics, the traditional tourists attractions such as the British Museum,the Tower of London, and the West End theatres reported attendance


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declines of 25% to 30%1. Restaurants and bars in the city center also sawa loss in patronage. Warnings of potential gridlock on roads and in thesubways proved to be quite effective; there were no major traffic jams aslocal residents and visitors often worked from home or took their vacationswhile the Games were underway.

Hotel occupancy also fell to 80% during the Olympics2 in London overthis period, well short of the July 2011 average of 92%3, as potentialvisitors chose to postpone or forgo their trips. The displacement of regularvisitors from Londons retail and entertainment core led Prime MinisterDavid Cameron to ask Londoners and domestic visitors to come back toenjoy themselves in tourist districts such as the West End and PiccadillyCircus4.

Londons 2012 Olympics have been a smashing success, withimpressive athletic achievements and new athletes emerging on the worldstage. But the huge numbers visitors that watched the athletes competecame while thousands of visitors avoided Londons theaters, museums,great shopping streets, and restaurants. Per capita visitor spending in thecitys retail and entertainment districts is typically greater than spending bytourists who come exclusively to watch the Olympic Games.5

However, in New York, the citys tourism boom continues, strongerthan ever. Visitors to New York City, excluding most day visitors, reached anew record, 51 million in 2011. More than one-third of all internationalvisitors to the United States, the people who spend the most while they arehere, now visit New York. Hotel occupancy rates have increased from 73%in 2001 to 85% in 2011.

Despite Londons role as site of the2012 Olympics, New York City stilloutdraws London based on the number of tourists in the city during anaverage summer day, and if regional day visitors were also taken into

1Kingsley, Patrick. Olympic London deserted: its a great time to be a tourist in the capital. The Guardian. 3

August 2012.2Haslett, Sophie. My Olympics experience, and London & Partnerss Martine Ainsworth-Wells. The Daily

Telegraph. 3 August 2012.3European Chain Hotels Market Review: July 2011. TRI Hospitality Consulting.

http://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDF4London still awaiting promised tourists. Business Day. 6 August 2012.

5Elliott, Larry. Olympics: why the British economy isnt a winner. The Guardian. 2 August 2012.
http://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDFhttp://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDFhttp://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDF


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account, New York could conceivably have outdrawn London by hundredsof thousands more per day over the past few weeks.

London theatre attendance was reported to be down byapproximately 30%, however, Broadway theatres reported an increase inattendance of 7% when compared to the same two-week period in 2011,outdrawing their London counterparts by nearly 100,000; New Yorks mostpopular museum (The Metropolitan Museum of Art outdrew the BritishMuseum during the Olympics by approximately 90,000 people. As hotels inLondon found themselves with unoccupied rooms during the Olympics,New York Citys hotels were almost full with a 93% occupancy rate duringthe last week of July, up 2.3% from the same week in 2011. New York Cityhotels sold 28,453 more rooms in the last week of July than in the sameweek last year, an average of 4,100 additional rooms per night, according

to NYC & Company.

London did host the 2012 Olympics with great skill and enthusiasm,however New York outperformed London as measured by the sheernumber of tourists attracted to the city, as well as museum and theatreattendance and hotel occupancy. There is no athletic contest that cancompete with New Yorks culture, cuisine, shopping, and energy.


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Methodology:

Estimating the Number of TouristsAccording to London & Partners, the projected number of out-of-towntourists during the 2012 Olympics will be approximately 5.95 million,consisting of 450,000 staying visitors and 5.5 million day visitors6. Basedon typical stay patterns of London visitors, a staying visitor usually stays forroughly 4 days7. Based on these assumptions, there will be roughly429,000 tourists and visitors per day in London, including day trip visitors.

New Yorks estimate of 538,000 tourists per day is based on NYC &Company tourism figures from 2011, which accounted for 40.3 milliondomestic visitors staying an average of 2.7 nights and 10.6 millioninternational visitors staying an average of 7.3 nights. Does not include dayvisitors that live within 50 mile radius of New York City. Adjusted forseasonal variation in tourists.

Estimating Museum AttendanceAccording The Guardian, British Museum attendance is down by one-fourth during Olympics; estimate based on average attendance over any

given 2 week period from annual attendance data, from the Association ofLeading Visitor Attractions. In 2011, the British Museum attracted 5.85million visitors. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it attracted6.28 million visitors in 2011, with an average of 24,065 per day from July 17to August 2. The estimates arrived at by this report assumed thatseasonality would affect how many visitors there were over this two-weekperiod: in 2011, the Metropolitan Museums average door count over thisperiod was 39% above average. The report assumes that a similarseasonal variation occurs among visitors to the British Museum during the

summer season.

6OCeallaigh, John. Olympics Visitors Guide. The Telegraph. 26 July 2011.

7Key Visitor Statistics: 2010 Fact Sheet London & Partners.http://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-

p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdf
http://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdf


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To obtain the visitor estimates for the British Museum during the Olympics,this report accounted for a 39% increase in visitors due to seasonalvariation, and the reported 25% decrease in visitors during the Games.Visitor estimates for the Metropolitan Museum from July 15, 2012 to July31, 2012 were obtained directly from the institution, and was reported to beapproximately 375,000.

Estimating Theatre Attendance

Londons estimated theatre attendance over the past two weeks was basedon annual 2011 attendance reported by the Society of London Theatres8,and reports that theatre attendance in the West End was down by roughly30% during the Olympics9. Broadways estimated theatre attendance over

the past two weeks was obtained directly from the Broadway League.

Estimating Hotel Occupancy

According to London & Partners, hotel occupancy levels was roughly 80%during the Olympic Games10. According to NYC & Company, hoteloccupancy for the week ending July 28 th, 2012 was 92.9%, up from 90.6%in the same week in 2011.

8Brown, Mark. West End Theatres Cheered by Rise in Revenues. The Guardian. 30 January 2012

9Hall, James. Tourists stay away from London during Olympics. The Daily Telegraph. 1 August 2012

10Elefteheriou-Smith, Loulla-Mae. London & Partners marketer claims visitor levels as anticipated. Marketing. 6

August 2012.http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-

levels-as-anticipated/
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/


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References

Brown, Mark. West End Theatres Cheered by Rise in Revenues. The Guardian. 30 January 2012

Elefteheriou-Smith, Loulla-Mae. London & Partners marketer claims visitor levels as anticipated.Marketing. 6 August 2012.http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/

Elliott, Larry. Olympics: why the British economy isnt a winner. The Guardian. 2 August 2012.

European Chain Hotels Market Review: July 2011. TRI Hospitality Consulting.http://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDF

Hall, James. Tourists stay away from London during Olympics.The Daily Telegraph

. 1 August 2012

Haslett, Sophie. My Olympics experience, and London &Partnerss Martine Ainsworth-Wells. The DailyTelegraph. 3 August 2012.

Key Visitor Statistics: 2010 Fact Sheet London & Partners.http://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdf

Kingsley, Patrick. Olympic London deserted: its a great time to be a tourist in the capital. The Guardian.3 August 2012.

London still awaiting promised tourists. Business Day. 6 August 2012.

OCeallaigh, John. Olympics Visitors Guide. The Telegraph. 26 July 2011.

Van De Velde, Antonia. London Olympics an Economic Failure: Roubini. CNBC.com. 6 August 2012.
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDFhttp://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDFhttp://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDFhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://d2mns3z2df8ldk.cloudfront.net/l-and-p/assets/media/factsheet_key_visitor_statistics_2010.pdfhttp://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDFhttp://www.trihc.com/USERFILES/FILE/HOTSTATS%20MONTHLY%20PR%20EUROPE%20JULY%202011.PDFhttp://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1144277/London---Partners-marketer-claims-visitor-levels-as-anticipated/

August 13olympics 1

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