NYC NOW - If You Host It, Will They Come? New York’s World Cup Hopes Meet Travel Concerns

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

The 2026 World Cup is expected to bring millions of visitors and billions of dollars to the New York and New Jersey region, with MetLife Stadium set to host the final. But some tourism and business leaders are raising concerns that international fans may stay away, citing shifts in how the United States is perceived abroad. WNYC reporter Arun Venugopal explains new data showing a drop in international flight bookings and what it could mean for the region’s economic expectations. Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail]

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Junae Pierre. The 26th FIFA World Cup will be hosted by New York and New Jersey, and tourism leaders in the states are hoping for a big economic boom. But between threats from ice and the U.S. political climate, there are concerns that tourists may not come. On today's episode, we get into what's deterring visitors from booking flights and planning their stay for soccer's biggest tournament.

But first, here's your news headlines. New York City's Education Department is releasing new guidance on artificial intelligence. The department is taking what they're calling a traffic light approach. The new guidance says using AI for tasks like grading and discipline get a red light, meaning they're banned.

Lesson planning and translation get a green light. And student research gets a yellow, meaning teachers need to use caution. Officials say kids are already using AI, so guardrails are necessary, and they see potential for enhancing learning. But many parents are worried. Some parents have called for a total ban on AI in schools

because of its impact on developing brains, data security, and the environment. The Education Department is requesting feedback ahead of more complete guidance in June. Home Health Aids are pressing Mayor Zohraamam Dhani to help them end 24-8. hour shifts. The workers rallied outside City Hall multiple times over the past week to call on the City Council to pass a bill capping home care shifts at 12 hours. Jung Fang Chong is a retired home

health aide. She spoke to WMYC through a translator. Even though I don't work anymore now, I can only get three to four hours of sleep every night now. Chong said working 24 hours shifts for 12 years took a toll on her health. But some critics say reform, needs to come from Albany, since home care is largely funded through the state-run Medicaid program. A spokesperson for the mayor says he'll work with the state and city council to protect workers. New York lawmakers are considering whether to issue hundreds of millions of dollars to help developers finally build a platform and housing above the train tracks at Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards. Assembly member Joanne Simon says the developers are requesting $350 million.

She says she would support the funding if it means that more affordable housing gets built after two decades of broken promises. We're throwing more money at this project and what is the public getting? The developer, Sirius real estate partners, declined to comment. A spokesperson for New York's Economic Development Authority says they're reviewing the request. The Empire State and the Garden State will host the 2026 World Cup. But some business and tourism leaders worry that visitors, won't come. We discuss why after a quick break. Welcome back to NYC now. The World Cup is the biggest soccer tournament in the world. It happens every four years and this year it's coming to

the U.S. with New York and New Jersey playing a major role, including hosting the final at MetLife Stadium. Officials are expecting millions of visitors and billions of dollars in economic impact. But some tourism and business leaders, their worried international fans, may stay away. No, not because of soccer, but because of how the U.S. is being perceived right now. WNYC and Gothamist reporter Arun Van der Kahl has been reporting on this, and he joins me now. Hey, Arun. Hey, Jene. Are you a big soccer fan at all? You know, I played soccer as a little kid. And so, you know, from an early age, it was something that mattered to me. I'm not like a super fan in terms of like following it these days. But when I started watching it, I get pretty seriously into it, but I'm not going to pretend to be some sort of fall head.

It's an exciting moment when you're into it. Oh, totally. Yeah, yeah, a little too much. Yeah, yeah. So let's get into this reporting. What are tourism and business leaders actually worried about as New York and New Jersey prepared to host the World Cup this year? They're worried about a lot. I mean, as you said, this is the world's biggest sporting event.

Yeah. The last one, I think it was like one and a half billion people tuned in far exceeding anything that. we are normally familiar with over here with our World Series and Super Bowls and whatnot. This is going to be bigger than any World Cup so far. It's in three countries, right? We've got Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. So right there, you're looking at the scale of this being unprecedented. Lots of people expected here.

But what people are worried about is that we're not going to be talking about football or soccer, whatever you call it, but we're going to be talking about something has nothing to do with the game. They're going to be talking about things like the killing of Alex Prattie or Renee Good, these people who have become not just in the American consciousness, but in the global consciousness, signs of who we are as a country right now. The people who are in charge of this who are really trying to make this the most spectacular possible event, especially for our region, New York, New Jersey, they're worried that something like that is going to happen over here

and it's going to scare people off and distract people from the sport. one of the tourism industry officials that I spoke to who expressed a lot of concern is Vijay Dundapani. He's a president and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York. And it represents the owners like 300 hotels, 80,000 hotel rooms, big group. And this is what he had to say. When it comes to just people running amok, the perception from foreigners in particular is, am I going to be caught into this dragnet? So, yes, from that standpoint, it's not helpful. So basically, the political climate, right, is really the thing that's overshadowing the World Cup.

Exactly. What evidence are they pointing to that suggests international visitors might already be rethinking trips to the U.S.? So just setting aside the World Cup, last year, because of tariffs and other policies from the Trump administration, we saw tourism to New York go down from the year before, okay? That's something that is happening across the country. It really hurts New York because we depend on it for billions of dollars in annual revenues and whatnot. A lot of businesses who do these travel groups around the city to say Central Park, Prospect Park, whatever it is, people whose livelihoods depend on this. And this year, what we're anticipating is a further drop in travel to New York because of all these spheres, specifically from Europe.

and the numbers are really discouraging for people in the industry. You reported specific flight booking data. Let's talk about that. How big is that drop that you're talking about? How unusual is it, you know, this far out? So there's an aviation analytics company called Sirium. And they told me that flight bookings for the month of July this coming summer, July 2026, from Europe into our two international airports, we're talking JFK and Newark,

that those bookings are down to. 21% from last year. Yikes. That's a drop from what was already a sharp decline last year. So that's pretty discouraging. When you look at the numbers overall for this country, that same company said the overall bookings from Europe to the U.S. have fallen 14%. Most sharply from Amsterdam, 23% decline from Amsterdam to the U.S. 21% from Paris, 19% from Athens, 26% from Barcelona, 36% from Frankfurt. So all these big global centers that we depend on for bringing people into the U.S., those numbers are really sharp at the same time that we're expecting a lot more people to be coming to the U.S. and specifically to New York and New Jersey for the World Cup.

We talked a bit about the political climate playing a big role in all of this. How much of this concern is being driven by media coverage overseas? I'm thinking specifically about Europe. Yeah. I mean, very much so. This is according to the people I've spoken to, some of whom are in Europe and are in the travel industry and are very much aware of how all these different images of protests and of killings in, say, Minneapolis or in other parts of the country. They're playing out. Sometimes we, you know, we live so much in our little American bubble, right?

We kind of think, oh, this is stuff that's happening here, not realizing that we are like the world's biggest. border of images and, you know, TV and footage and stuff like that. I can go even further and say we're stuck in a New York City bubble, right? Totally, exactly. We're not really thinking about how the stuff plays to the rest of the world, but it very much does. I spoke to one person, his name is Quentin Michelin. He's with the group Association for Professional Tourism. He's based in Paris.

And he said, tension of European tourists at U.S. borders has received massive media coverage over in Europe. And then you said also the words of our president, President Trump, his words at Davos, he called Europeans weak. He called him stupid people that landed really hard over there. And that the cumulative effect, as he said, is a feeling of simply not being welcomed by the U.S. Why do international tourists matter so much to the economic projections tied to the World Cup? You know, we are estimating that billions of dollars will come in for New York and New Jersey. So why does this matter so much?

It's very simple. The math is that compared to a domestic tourist, an international tourist spends like four or five times as much money when they come here. You know, they really kind of like go whole hog when you go, you know, you commit to something. It might take a certain person with more money to burn that's going to cross the oceans to come and enjoy themselves here. So all the businesses here in New York, bars, hotels, restaurants that are really gearing. for this, that's what they're really worried about, is that not just tourists in general, but that people who are coming from far and wide across the world who are really excited about this, you know, the kind of people who might go to the World Cup every four years or eight years or whatever it is, whenever they can make the trip, that they save up and then they kind of spend big when they come here. And they're worried that they're just not going to come in the first place. So when we talk about these economic projections and the industry is impacted, it's safe to say that it's the hospitality industry, right?

It is. Yes, exactly. It's really the most obvious sort of like venues that are worrying about the impact. But then again, you know, if you're that little boutique that sits across from a hotel in, say, the Flat Iron District, and you're also going to be benefiting from this, right? Somebody who just wants, you know, a keepsake from their trip here and they decide to buy something beautiful to see there. All those businesses. You know, when we're talking about the millions of people who might be coming here, those are the kinds of overflow effects we see in businesses across the city or not, depending on how this plays out. What has the federal government said about its role, you know, during the World Cup and what questions remain unanswered? So we did reach out to immigration and customs enforcement known as ICE. They didn't respond to our questions about, you know, what their plans are for immigration enforcement during the world. Cup. And, you know, just to be clear, we're talking about seven games in specifically in New Jersey, but it's referred to as New York, New Jersey for the purposes of, you know, the tournament. So there's a whole regional impact. So they didn't respond to our questions, but the acting

director of ICE, his name is Todd Lyons, he spoke to a congressional committee a few weeks go, and he told them that the agency would be a, quote, key part of the overall security apparatus for the World Cup. And he also said, we're dedicated to securing that operation, and we are dedicated to security of all of our participants as well as visitors. That's Todd Lyons. A room, I got to be honest, when it was first announced that the World Cup would be coming to New York and New Jersey, I wondered how that would look, right?

What about tourists who just simply have a hard time getting the lay of the land and commuting from New York to New Jersey? Oh, exactly. Like, you know, you can live here as I lived here for many years and still be like, wait, what's going on here? You know, why did this skip my stop? Why, what's this construction due for my, you know, my commute? What's happening? Why is my train canceled? All that stuff that we know is just par for the course of being a New Yorker.

Right. Now, add to that the fact that you are a foreign visitor, your language skills, your English language skills may be only so-so. You hear something on the over-the-train, you know, intercom. You have no idea what just said. They're adding all these different things. They're changing, you know, the paths to various things. Add on top of that the fact that you might have ICE officers who are trying to secure, you know, provide security for outside the stadium or whatever. They may be roaming New York City.

They may be roaming the path train, the MTA. in general, there are a lot of layers here, clearly. Yeah. Yeah. And so tourism officials, New York City officials, immigrant rights activists, they're all worried that this is going to add up to a cocktail of confusion and potential chaos and either keep people away or end up in some really kind of scary situations. Yeah, but I have to admit, like, this isn't an overnight thing.

Like, we have been seeing ice for a year now. And we know the transportation system. has been around. Has this not been considered, you know, prior to? I think that the thing is, if you would talk to some of these people six months ago, by which I mean tourism officials, city officials, they might have had a certain level of concern. I think that has really ratched up in the last couple months because it's clearly just this moving target. And there's a higher level of uncertainty now because of what we've seen in other parts of the country. because of the violence we've seen, the level of aggressive enforcement that's happening,

and the ways in which people across the country are rising up against law enforcement. If we see the same scenes in New York City that we've seen in, say, Minneapolis, then there's no telling about what that's going to mean for the World Cup. Certainly if that happens prior to, but if it happens anywhere close to, you know, the actual dates of this tournament, the month of games that play out here in the region, there's no way of telling what that's going to do in terms of just, you know, scenes of chaos and how that's going to meet with basic business. We talked a lot about these concerns and how heightened they are right now. What has Mayor Mumdani's response been to all of this? So we have asked his office multiple times exactly that question, you know, what does he think about this?

and they did not respond to us. He has appointed a World Cup czar, who's just kind of, I guess, you know, new to this office. What we do know is that there's other entities like the New York City Tourism and Conventions. It's basically the city's main tourism booster. They've put out this PR campaign across the world essentially meant to tell people, you know, come to New York. We're a very inviting and welcoming and diverse city. You know, all these things we might kind of take for granted, but which have sort of an added layer of meaning right now. They've got this sort of mascot on their website known as Libby, short for Liberty, essentially Statue Liberty kind of AI host.

She's fluent in 60 languages and ready to make your visit unforgettable, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, they've got this campaign going. They sent me these images of bus kiosks and in shopping malls in all these different places, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, where they're just appealed. to people and saying, hey, it's a great town. Come and enjoy it, you know. And knowing that they're also trying to get over this hurdle. Yeah. What does it say about, you know, the political climate we're in right now that a place like New York City needs that type of messaging, right?

Because you think New York City, you think I think fun town. Absolutely. Isn't that why we all came here, you know, if we're not from here originally? I mean, you know, Janay, I think one of the most interesting comments I heard from a business leader came from Jessica Lapin. She's the president of the Alliance for Downtown New York business group. And we were talking about, you know, these controversies about what's going on right now. And she said, you know, ultimately there's really not much that the city can do to control how the federal administration, you know, operates or it's in. during the games. But she also said, you know, if you followed World Cups, there's always been

controversy. World Cup host countries are not without controversy. Look at Qatar, look at Russia. You know, it's not unusual to have a host country that's facing some controversy, quite frankly. So, again, I would hope the people would feel comfortable in New York over almost anywhere on the planet because we are a welcoming cosmopolitan international city. I will say, I think New York City tourism and travel is also working on making sure travelers know ahead of time what to expect. I think that will help remove some anxiety and also educate people. And for us to think of ourselves as New York and the U.S. is being sort of, you know, in the same kind of company as Russia when it comes thinking, you know, I feel like that is a whole new reality that we're dealing with.

So we know that Mayor Mundani is the youngest mayor that we've had in a century, but he's also the first South Asian mayor. One could argue like that in itself would be inviting for international tourists to come here. I mean, I think you're right. Like the amount of attention that his identity has gotten. And again, sometimes if you live in New York City bubble, you think this is just like something that New Yorkers and perhaps other Americans deal with. I traveled last year in the months leading up to the election,

and I was struck by you'd meet people. I met people in Turkey who were like, New York City, oh, Zoran Mamdani. You're on a connecting flight in Heathrow. New York City, oh, Zoran Mamdani. I was visiting my folks in Houston last year. Some of them are like, hmm, what's this Zahan Mamdani all about? Everybody around the world is paying attention to New York City in a new way because of Zoramundi.

And so I think I think that's true. In many ways, perhaps that is sort of like the wild card, perhaps a secret weapon as far as some people are concerned. And maybe they're not thinking about ICE enforcement. They're thinking about the city which has this whole news sort of, you know, it's had this image makeover, if you will. And so, yeah, I guess it remains to be seen. Yeah, I'm just wondering, though, if concerns don't ease up, what does that mean for the region's expectations for the World Cup? So, I mean, the numbers are pretty big here. Like, here's the goals.

They're looking at like a $3.3 billion impact on the region. That's what they're hoping for. They're talking about like 1.8 million visitors throughout the summer. 26,000 jobs generated because of the World Cup just for this region, you know. They're looking at just the amount of spending. they're talking about on the regional economy with matches and non-match attendees, like $1.7 billion, hundreds of millions of dollars in like local and state tax revenue. So this is a big cash cow for this economy. And there are a lot of people in the industry who still feel confident that, you know, we're going to hit those goals and it's going to benefit a lot of people. And then there are people who are worried that it's not going to take a whole lot to kind of derail that. And there's an immigrant rights. group, New York Immigration Coalition. They are also looking at this with some concern and I think to some extent trying to exert some leverage here. One immigrant rights leader is Murad Awada.

He's the president CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition. He said it's not implausible that they would essentially call for an economic boycott of the World Cup if they don't think that ICE enforcement is easing up sufficiently. If it comes to it, we may issue a travel alert to everyone who may be coming to New York and New Jersey, to maybe not come to New York and New Jersey if the federal government continues to escalate their actions against our communities here. That is saying if we don't get reassurances from ICE and the federal administration, the Trump administration that they're going to ease up and allow for immigrants to move about freely,

then we're going to send out a travel alert, a boycott, in essence, saying don't come to the city because it's not going to be safe for you. Those are the kinds of things also that city officials and tourism officials are probably really wary of happening because this is a very complicated, you know, a situation between people who want to make money, but also people who want to make sure that these communities are kept safe. Yeah, for sure. That's WNYC's Arun Fentigapal. Thanks a lot of room. Thanks, Sheney. And thank you for listening to NYC Now.

I'm Jene Pierre. See you soon.