Tourists Are Flocking Back to NYC, But Fear of Crime May Be Keeping Day-Trippers Away
In the past few weeks, some DU folks have opined that they'd never come here if they lived abroad.
Fortunately for New York, plenty of foreigners are.
On Tuesday, the Lellis had breakfast at a Dunkin Donuts in Times Square, sampling the chain restaurant’s signature fried dough for the first time. Then they headed downtown to check out Wall Street, Chinatown and Little Italy before seeking out more off-the-beaten track destinations.
“We wanted to get some freedom back and why not come to New York,” Lelli said. “We knew when we booked the trip there was some risk of cancellation and things like that, but why not take the risk.”
Today, millions of people like Lelli have decided to follow the same path and, in a sign of hope for the city’s economy, tourism to New York City is rebounding much stronger than expected
https://www.thecity.nyc/economy/2022/7/6/23197456/tourists-back-nyc-fear-crime-day-trippers-hotels-restaurants.
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You should NEVER discount the possibility that someone in the street might be fluent in ANY language spoken today, or even some spoken no longer.
Actually, much of America is like that. I was with my family in Honoka'a, Hawai'i a little over 2 months ago, in a tiny shop, when I was astonished to hear Catalan being spoken behind me. I turned around and spoke to the Catalan-speaking couple, who were floored that in some tiny town on the Big Island with a population numbering in the hundreds, not thousands, that they would happen upon an American who spoke Catalan. Things like that have happened to me even in NYC as well. Never EVER assume no one understands what you are saying, because that is just the moment when you are standing next to someone who understands you perfectly.
That goes for Americans, too, by the way. When Obama was set to announce his choice for VP in 2008, I knew who it was about 10 hours before he announced it publicly. My nephew, who looks like a full-blooded Japanese (his mom is) and was somewhat small in stature even at age 18, was at an indoor pool in northern Virginia that day very early in the morning. The only other people there were two staffers from then-Senator Biden's office. They had been informed already and, figuring the only other person at the pool was some Asian kid who obviously understood no English, jabbered away about how excited they were that Biden would be Obama's pick for VP. My nephew doesn't even speak Japanese, and that summer, he was interning for the DC office of the Texas Democrats. Born and raised in Virginia, his English was just fine, needless to say. But he wisely didn't say a word, and then came home and told his dad, my brother, who immediately let me in on the news. By the way, I did let DU know, but said that I couldn't reveal my source, since I didn't want to get anyone in trouble. I was roundly trashed (LINK????) with a scornful round of "how do YOU know?" and "what makes YOU so special?" and only one of them apologized. Oh, well.....
I waited YEARS to tell the story, too. Some people in DC read DU, and in case any of the two women at that pool that day had stayed on with Biden when he became VP, I didn't want it tossed in their faces until it was very old news.
