We Fixed It, You're Welcome - Reviving New York City Tourism

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

In this episode of "We Fixed It. You're Welcome," the hosts tackle New York City's tourism slump. With international visits expected to drop 17% and $4 billion in potential lost spending, the team explores innovative solutions. Joined by comedian Tim Duffy, they discuss leveraging borough pride, curating unique experiences, and corporate reinvestment in communities. Ideas include borough-specific marketing, specialty interest tours, and encouraging residents to be local tourists. The conversation touches on the challenges faced by different neighborhoods, the importance of affordable accommodations, and the potential for public-private partnerships. The hosts emphasize New York's resilience and its ability to create cultural moments that attract visitors, ultimately aiming to revitalize the city's tourism industry. https://wefixeditpod.com/ A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We're here to ask the kinds of questions everyone's thinking. Have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring. By the end, if we fixed it, you're welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to We Fixed It. You're welcome. The show where we take over companies, you come along for the ride. We try to put them back better than we found them. Okay, we're here today to talk about New York City. Compared to last year, international tourism to New York is expected to drop 17% this year. Since international tourists make up 50% of the visitor spend, that means there could be $4 billion in lost spending.

Those are a lot of numbers to unpack, so we're going to need some help here. We've got Melissa, we've got Kadir, we've got me, but something's missing. If we're going to fix New York City's tourism issue, we're going to need a bona fide New Yorker. Hopefully a funny one at that. He's got experience at the Daily Show, Comedy Central, and Beyond. He's an award winner. He's Tim Duffy. What's going on, Tim?

What should our listeners know about you? Well, I mean, I guess you said a lot of the things. I did social strategy at the Daily Show, so I can't take any credit for the comedy over there. but I have been a comedian for many years, created a couple of digital series with Comedy Central back in the day when they did that. And currently I help with some production stuff on John Stewart's podcast. So, you know, and I'm from Staten Island, which is the sort of undersung gem of the five boroughs. So I have a particular insight, although I do, for the record, live on the North Shore. So if the revolution comes from the South Shore of Staten Island, I can get to Manhattan.

to, you know, when the secession happens, I will get out of here. Nice. Well, thanks, Tim. Thanks for being our boots on the ground for this episode. You're geographically closer than any of us are at the moment. So can't wait to hear what you have to say. Well, New York City, it's a busy place. And it's still busy, of course.

If you go there, it's wall-to-wall people. But this year, it's a little less crowded. And that's due in part to the decline in international travel. Whether it's rising travel costs or political climate or countries that simply aren't allowed in right now, there's going to be a slump this year and there's going to be an economic impact. So let's talk about it. See if we can reverse that trend. How do we get more people to New York?

That's our responsibility for this episode. Kadira, let's start with you without getting too deep into the political side of things, unless you all want to go there during this episode. What do we think about what's happening? Yeah, this is interesting, you know, but I think it's a lesson. And I would say not just for New York City, but for all major cities right now. You know, like the Trump slump is not just something, for example. You know, we can talk about New York City, but all major metro city should be paying attention

and really thinking about the power of the pivot. Essentially, you know, New York City has put, what, 50% of their eggs, so to speak, in one basket. And so this is an opportunity to kind of lean in and think about not just what is our strategy and how are we going to shift those tourism dollars, whether it's domestically, whether it's focusing on our residents for this summer, next summer. but like what is what should this look like for the next three five seven years like things need to look differently but you know i think the thing that we have to keep in mind is like new york city is strong they always come back this is not the first time that something you know unfortunate or

significant has happened to kind of ship things in the city they always figured out and they always come back but again this is an opportunity to really lean in and think about things very differently and not just kind of rest on the laurels of like, this is what's worked for us in the past. Is this just something that we, you know, we're having a little bit of a growing pain and we need to get through for this year or the next couple of years and things will come back. We, they need to be thinking about things differently going forward, period. Tim, and your travels around town, do things feel different? Is there a different sensibility in the air?

Is there just kind of? I think there's a like a framing issue with York. I think it's, it's hard to, it's hard to sell. the greatest city in the world when the governor and mayor are acting like the subways are a crime-ridden cesspool. So I think that's a hard problem to deal with when those people are the ones messaging that. You know, it's this, it feels like crime is higher, but it's not, you know, that kind of thing. And I think it's worth really exploring, like, why are we doing that? Like, is it just about consolidating political power? And ultimately, does that help?

the residents in any capacity. I don't think it does. Because, you know, I take the subway all the time. The subway is only as crazy as it's ever been. You know, like, that's just part of living in a big city. And if you go to San Francisco or Chicago or any of these other major cities, Austin, New Orleans, big cities everywhere are going to have those problems. I just, I think that there's really a framing issue that is being, that's become a problem. And then on the Trump side of it, You know, like we should be messaging that this is a way, you know, we're not Trump's America. We're the thing that he's, you know, against. So if you're trying to bring in international tourists, I mean, highlighting the ways that we are not like the places that he seems to think are great, you know, I think would be a helpful strategy as well.

I love what you said, Tim. I think that one of the things that needs to be kind of delineated, and I love what you said about framing because I think obviously it's, about how you message would really be like an all our welcome campaign because right now it feels like in the United States with all of the different types of policies there's very negative perceptions and I'm not saying that this isn't real that people aren't getting stopped in customs and things like that with the visa backlogs and all of those negative perceptions it's really important for New York to somewhat distance itself by creating that inclusive messaging and getting that out there to this very large component and a contingency that has helped New York City become

the city that never sleeps, all the things, right? The destination and really kind of that amazing representation of the melting pot of America. And I mean, New York City is one of my favorite places to go. I would continue to choose it as a wonderful destination because there's just so rich in everything, in history. And, art in culture, in food, in all the things that really make a destination great. One of the things that I thought was interesting, too, based on kind of Erin and, and Kedare, you talked about COVID and the post-COVID era as well, is that New York, the city, the tourism in New York City, their Department of Tourism said,

68% of international visitors prioritize local culture when they come over typical tourist spots like the Statue of Liberty and Times Square and things like that. So leaning into that could be a way to kind of fix that. And one of the things I used to live in San Francisco, travel there a lot for work. And after COVID, it was just demolished. And parts of it have not come back. So for example, the financial district where all the banks were, they're all gone, empty now. But what thrived were their neighborhoods, right? Because people were living and working from their neighborhood. So like if you go into the mission in San Francisco, if you went into the sunset district, the inner outer sunset, you know, it was just the restaurant scene. Everything

was thriving. And I would say the same thing about New York is that like there are these great boroughs. There's these great neighborhoods. And what about like really focusing on how to get that message out there and make experiences based on kind of the local culture, you know, and we know. And we know about Harlem's jazz scene, for example, but do you know about the Sri Lankan food district in Staten Island, right? Yeah. I'm like, I do. I mean, it's, it comes up all.

I have to Google that, sorry. Yeah. But that would be a way in which to kind of exemplify also, it's a city for all, right? You know, and I mean, that's the cool thing about going into these cities, going into the little Italy, going into the Chinatowns, going in and, you know, just really experience. it from a different perspective. And I think focusing on what people want versus what was working in the past is really, I think, important. Yeah. And I think, you know, even to your point, Melissa, you know, folks always want and need to see themselves, just speaking of the local neighborhoods and the

culture and things like that. And so whether we're talking about that international tourism or even domestic visitors from just other places, right? I mean, people come to New York because of the culture. to your, like, yeah, there's the touristy stuff, but to your point, like being able to go to Harlem for some really good food or music, being able to go to Brooklyn, being able to, you know, just to go bounce around to all the different boroughs. And I'll tell you, like, my friends that live there, they say their borough is the best, right? Into that, right, lean in. They don't want to leave their borough. They're like, I'm not traveling so many blocks outside of my borough because I've got everything I need. How do you lean into that for visitors as well and show people outside of New York City themselves, to your point, even inside of that local culture. I think, and to your point, like, listening on this is a really good opportunity for the city, you know, yes, there's Broadway and I love all the shows and things like that, again, more of the touristy, but like listen truly to what are people saying that they really want to see when they come to New York City. Yeah, I love what you're saying, Kedera, because when, and Tim, you're saying about it, the perception problem, because in the, we'll generalize, but the 70s and 80s, you thought of New York is a seedy kind of underbelly, scary city. At least, you know, that. perception from the outside. Then there was the reclaiming in the 90s and the friends friendsization. Is that a word? But you know the Bubba Gump in Times Square and and became a Taurus mecca like any other. And it's it's been an interesting evolution. But I love this concept

of the boroughs kind of reclaiming their, or reestablishing their own identities and and using that as a draw. I think maybe, you know, there's, I think there's something there. It's also funny to think, you know, like people always say the 70s and the 80s and cesspool, yada, yada, yada. But like, when somebody makes a movie about New York, what time period do they try and make it about? You know, like the most exciting time. Like, when people fantasize about going back to something, it's studios 54 and CBGBs. And like, I want to go experience the burgeoning of a variety of culture. And, like, you know, the cool thing about New York, when it works right,

that's happening every day. You know, like there's some version of that happening somewhere. Maybe it's in Flushing. Maybe it's down the street from me in Staten Island. But like there's something happening somewhere that is worth checking out. And sort of recapturing that sort of new and adventurous kind of traveler, I think is maybe something New York needs to think about, instead of thinking about somebody who's going to spend all their time at the M&M store or whatever.

True. Yeah. I also think that like in today's world, everything is very social media content related, you know. And so like those viral moments, I was laughing to him when you were talking about the subway because I've seen that video of the rat pulling the piece of pizza up the subway steps like a million times. And so of course everybody assumes that's what it's. But like being able to kind of pull in some of those types of the viral content or like capitalizing on all of those kinds of. of things right now would be really interesting and kind of collaborating. So pop-up collaborations around culture, around artists, around chefs, you know, like, you know, getting to be on the

end, you know, whenever you see kind of, I know, New York was the first place where they had those pop-up chefs that would have secret dinners, you know, and how do you get on the list? How do you get on the list, right? But there's so many opportunities for New York to do that and for people to feel like that, you know, it's always about, you know, I'm all about an auction, you know, like, if I see that timer going off, I'm all about like trying to buy it now or whatever, even if I don't mean it. I think that that could be something that would be really interesting. It's like kind of combining, you know, the best artists and the best, you know, experiences and making them something very unique and interesting. And then, you know, maybe Aaron kind of trying to market it in

different ways, not just the traditional ways, but like everybody. on TikTok. Everybody's looking at those kinds of things and they're like, oh, I want to go to that speak easy. I mean, I remember, you know, when I was in New York, it's like, oh, double knock on the door and, you know, or the bodega where you go through it. And then there's, you know, a shop, a fashion pop, whatever. So I think there's really great opportunities for people to feel like they're part of something that's kind of mysterious and secret and that they can share that then with their friends. And it would be, it would actually be really. really kind of fun to explore, you know, like all the different neighborhoods and all the different

areas. But I do think that's something that would be, you know, kind of cool for New York to do and other towns as well, other cities. Yeah, I agree. I think, Tim, you touched on it too, that some of the, one of the best things about New York is that only in New York moment, like, I can't believe this is happening and I'm here and it happens all the time. And the other thing about those moments, you know, you mentioned like the Pizorette or whatever. The thing about the pizza rat that I always marvel at is the pizza rat is minding his own business. Like, the rats here mostly know to mind their own business. They don't want to deal with you as much as you don't want to deal with them.

So, like, if you ever wanted to see that kind of wildlife from seven feet away without it coming up to bite you, New York is the perfect place to do that. Love it. I do think there's so many different opportunities, right? You know, so like, you know, Broadway, dear, you brought that up, you know, like, you know, an end of a show run and having a packaged experience that would, you know, say, okay, we're going to do that. And then we're also going to have dinner at Lydia's, you know, restaurant, Beko or whatever it might be. And that's a package deal. And you get to go to see the last season of Wicked or whatever it might be. You know, they just announced, for example, that Stephen Colbert show got canceled.

So there's one season left of that. So why not? take every single show. I mean, it's the last one and, like, create, like, this really cool experience and you get a mug and you get, you know, you get to stay downtown and you get to go see this and, you know, and be part of an experience. And I think that would be really cool as well. And that kind of, activating that kind of fan base, then you can send them to the comedy

seller and you can send them to this. Yeah, exactly. All of, you know, really give them the full New York comedy experience, whatever. that might be. Even like if you thought about packaging it with, you can see Colbert and you see a taping of the Daily Show and you, you know, like you could hit, you could do a whole late night circuit, you know, and hit all of them, really. Yeah. I think it's really cool. Yeah. I think it's also an opportunity, you know, to really encourage residents to be a tourist in their own city. And, you know, again, I'm going to pick on my friends again, right? But like when we talk about, you know,

so many people that live there, like they're, their borough, their neighbor, their native. neighborhood gives them so much of what they need traveling around. They're like, I don't need to do that, right? But how do we encourage residents to get out and, you know, to your point, kind of use those experiences, those packages to explore other parts of the city, other cultures, whatever that might look like. So I think that's another opportunity when we think about, okay, maybe we've leaned a little bit into the international tourism and that's maybe kind of, we need to pull back there. Okay, how do we lean on the domestic, but also how do we lean on the folks who this is, this is their neighborhood or their city. This is their community. How do we lean on them a little bit more

as well to kind of come out and experience what they might not experience on a regular basis? Yeah, you can do borough residence swaps. Like, I'm somebody can say and I can go stay in flushing because there's a bigillion restaurants up there that I like would love to go to, but like, I never make it up to queens. Yes. From an operational standpoint, the New York City Tourism department can real and businesses can really proactively could do your point address revising kind of the forecast and the mix of and addressing it that way and kind of putting in the effort because this is one of the things that las Vegas did after COVID so after COVID Las Vegas really aggressively started courting the conventions by offering like a plus so an add-on so it became what they're

calling leisure, I think, so business and leisure together, so that you would stay, you know, you'd go to the convention or you'd come to New York for work, which is still very relevant, right? And then you'd stay. You'd stay through the weekend. And there would be some sort of, you know, experience package or it doesn't even have to be a package. It could be a discount that you could stay at that hotel or whatnot. And they would offer you opportunities to do some of these other things, like, you know,

explore the boroughs or whatever it might be. and or get a reservation at a really fine dining restaurant that you would want to, right? I think that's a way also to kind of get more of the domestic traveler to be more interested in New York City too. Because I do think there's plenty of people kind of flowing in, but are they spending their money in those areas? I don't know. Well, and is it fair to ask residents to leverage their neighborhood pride to, you know, to be tourist ambassadors and to bring. others to, you know, to, to overflow those neighborhoods. You have, you have the boost in international tourism. You have, you know, Spain, Italy, France, and the Louvre saying, you know, you're,

you're, you're overwhelming us. What if that happened to Staten Island that doesn't have the tourist infrastructure? Tim, how would that, you know, what would residents think if Staten Island became the next must be location? I mean, I think there's, there's always been, as a Staten Islander, I've seen like dips and, you know, like the roller coaster of like, are we ready to be the up and coming neighborhood? And it never sort of materializes, you know, like we have like a, I would say, 70% empty mall that they built right next to the Staten Island ferry because the plan was to have the world's biggest ferris wheel here.

And then that got scuttled for a variety of political and economic reasons. And so like there is like this constant like, we even do it? Like, I know the one hotel in our neighborhood is not a place I would recommend anybody go stay. So that is like, you know, I think there's a hunger for it. You know, if I talk to my friends who own bars or my friends who own the two local breweries in the neighborhood, like, they would love to have more people coming by and, you know, enjoying all of the many things that we have going on, whether or not we are capable of taking that in is is another question. And it does beg, you know, it goes back to, it's not surprising that it goes back to where can people stay

because that is New York's great plight right now is just like a housing problem. So I do think, you know, those are things that do need solutions because I do think that there is a way, if there was a really nice hotel on Staten Island, that you could hop on the ferry and be in Manhattan and in 25 minutes, that would be a very inviting thing to have. I mean, I think that's probably more like a several-year solution. It's not an immediate one, but I do think that's something that should be discussed and worked on. Yeah. Also, I think that's what you have to think about is that like what are those longer-term fixes, right? Like, what's the longer-term strategy? Because, you know, when something like that happens and we've actually had a podcast to discuss

like the downfall of malls kind of thing. And so like, when, you say like, oh, this isn't going to come to fruition. We're no longer going to have the biggest fairy wheel ever. So what are we going to have? Right. You know, you know, so if we're not going to have a ferris wheel, what are we going to have, right? And maybe it becomes, you know, this new working space. It could be something cool with the ferry.

You know what I mean? I mean, it gets something really fun. And I do think even just you don't need the ferris wheel. I think that's like a, it's a novelty. It's like a little, it's such a distraction from what actually makes a neighborhood great and good and something that you'd want to do, which is beautiful views of New York. Great restaurants, like you've said, the Sri Lankan place. There's this place, Chene's house that's like on all of the New York Times lists and stuff. It's a soul food restaurant here.

Some of the best pizza around is here. Like you could just send people on a restaurant run plus two breweries. There's like, there's, you know, that's, that should be enough. Right. It's just about incentivizing people to come and making it accessible to them in a way. And reminding them that the ferry is free. There is like this, you know, like you can see the statue of liberty, do the touristy thing from the ferry, and then get off and spend a couple hours here and you might find something, you know, fun to do.

So we shouldn't probably focus on Staten Island this much, though. But it's good. I know that this is a real problem for me and everybody in my life that is not from Staten Island is that I focus on it too much. Well, no, it's a fair point. I mean, if you're going to explore New York and get really the sensibility, you have to see all of it, right? You have to get it.

And if you're going to go to Staten Island and enjoy it, you have to be places to stay. But I do wonder, do the powers that be, are they in a position to think strategically and long term when tourism is at an all-time high? Or when there's a drop and there's a $4 billion deficit, you know, is that the time where they're going to say, well, let's reinvest.

You know? Well, I guess that's the thing. And, and, you know, I was reticent to even go here. But, like, I think that is one of the opportunities with having a potential new mayor who can really look at things in a new way, hopefully. And it's not one of the old dinosaurs that are trying to cling to power and just keep things the way that they are. I think that there's real opportunity to change neighborhoods and make them more livable. Because once the city becomes more livable, it'll be much easier. to sell it to people outside of the city. So I think that's a super important piece of the puzzle. Now, obviously, like, that's, there's a lot of pie in the sky there as well. But, like, I think you have to try to do it. You can't just, like, sit back and say there is no solution to housing problems or, you know, there's no solution to having tons of empty buildings, you know, like that. This neighborhood is full of that kind of stuff.

And it's, like, just an opportunity waiting for the right set of. circumstances and people to just take the wheel and make it happen. Yeah. I mean, domestic travel is stabilizing a bit, but inflation is that wildcard. And I do think that New York City has a, I don't know, Aaron, give me the branding word for it, but they have this, there's a feeling from travelers and tourists that is very, very expensive to stay and go to New York City. So hotel rooms, you know, food, all the things, even though like meat on the street is one of my favorite things.

So anyway, but still, like I think that because of that, it also deters people from like, you know, even though a middle class family is more than willing to go and spend thousands and thousands of dollars in Orlando or anaheim at Disneyland, right? You know, and Disney World. But like they don't see the same kind of thing like, well, what would we take our kids to do, you know? And even though maybe it would be a pizza tour because everybody loves pizza, you know, that kind of thing. But I do think that that's something that New York and other large cities like San Francisco's of the world have to kind of think about how do you push towards a more cost conscious budget traveler and family, you know, in order to get them to a place like New York City versus them deciding to go to Philadelphia or somewhere where they perceive it to be cheaper because that's definitely typically an issue as well. I will say the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in was in Greenpoint Brooklyn. So, and I, you know, I used to get sent to travel for things. We did a shoot post-COVID in Brooklyn, and they didn't want us traveling from our separate homes every day.

So they put us up in a hotel. And it was the nicest. There was, it was spacious. And that just goes to show. And reasonably priced. And that just goes to show if you're willing to go outside of, I'm not going to stay in Times Square. There is affordable, like, reasonable options. in neighborhoods that are worth doing a bunch of stuff in.

You know, like there's a lot of stuff out in Greenpoint that you're going to want to check out if you're there. So like that's the thing too. You know, there are ways to make this work. Right. And I think the other thing that, you know, we have to also factor in is the number of corporations, right, that are headquartered there or have a large footprint. And, you know, and I think we talk a lot about the city and, of course, there's a tourism

department and they've got a budget and, you know, what is the mayor going to do and all those things, but I think companies that are headquartered there, this is also an opportunity for them to be responsive to the community as well. I would love to see some sort of public, private partnership. Maybe some of the companies get in and support or underwrite some sort of marketing campaign that tells the stories of New Yorkers and maybe some transplants, why they love living there. Maybe it's tourists that have come there and love it and come every year, something like that. Maybe it is a citywide volunteer project where we're bringing in folks to support the community. be, you know, it is a citywide scavenger hunt. But again, there's all these different things that I

think we can't ignore those companies that kind of that build their social responsibility strategies around we do good where we have customers and employees. Bam, they need to be thinking about if this is one of the issues that New York City is facing, how are we going to be responsive to it? They should absolutely be thinking about, again, there's the P-word, the pivot in their local strategy, strategy to address some of this with the city and the tourism department. I tend to think that that's one of America's great problems, is that, like,

companies don't take real responsibility in community. Like, if we're going to be a capitalist country, you're going to get to build your business and make millions of dollars off the backs of people in a neighborhood, you actually owe something. That's right. You know, like a corporate, real, real corporate responsibility. which is obviously like a dirty word now, but like we really need to lean on companies to do more in communities.

Like it's insane to me you bring up San Francisco that San Francisco could deteriorate with all of those tech companies just sort of abdicating responsibility and tutting and complaining and getting all these tax breaks and not doing anything to actually earn those tax breaks by improving the area that they're in. I like what you're saying. but if corporations step up with corporate interests in mind, does it drive what it, let's say it works, does it drive tourists to chain hotels and Disney movies on stage?

Or is there a trickle-down type of approach that? There's probably a balance. There's got to be a balance there. I think, you know, the people that want exciting adventurous culture are always going to want exciting adventurous culture. The people that want something that's more reliable, I get that, you know, impulse, you know, they're going to go for what they're going to go for.

But I just, I think within that corporate structure, there also has to be ways to, like, help community smaller scale things to stay and thrive. And, you know, I think that's just as important. I mean, I think, Tim, you know, I love the point that you made at the top of what you were saying. It's like, this is about accountability. And I think, you know, sometimes companies can forget that your customers, your employees, that local community is also a stakeholder. or a shareholder, right? And that's who they're listening to and should be accountable to. And so,

like you said, it's a balance. But, you know, if their communities, again, where they're headquarter, where they're doing business, where they've got customers, heck, even if their customers start to lean on them and hold them accountable, I think then and only then will you really start to see change in those, those real investments that need to happen. But it is a tricky time right now, even around some of that CSR work. Yeah. Yeah. I also think that, you know, it's about focus focusing too, like I said, again, on who are the folks coming in? So who's the customer coming in? So whether that's somebody domestically or internationally. And, you know, one of the things, Aaron, I know we do in our world in customer experience and marketing is

we try to create like these personas of like who the customer really is. And, and so one of the things that like LA did, for example, was to counter their drops in tourism. They marketed to different travelers that they felt would be really invested in coming to L.A. So they really went strong on marketing to Latin American travelers. And so New York City could do the same thing, focusing on untapped markets like, you know, maybe where middle class, you know, travel demand is surging, where people are looking for someplace different to go, you know, and finding out what that persona looks like, whether it's, you know, whatever, if it's a country or whether it's,

you know, a geographic area domestically or it's like middle class families, whatever it might be. And then creating packages that would entice people to come forward, I think would be kind of a cool thing. Like I said, I'm always looking for a deal. And I think that, you know, in conjunction with some of these corporate events and things like that, you could create some deals that would, you know, if I'm coming into town for a two-day convention with, you know, my, our corporate headquarters are in downtown on Wall Street, then I would love it that I could bring my family in for the weekend and we could get to go to see Hamilton or whatever. And we could, you know, get to explore, you know, something, wherever it might be, the Natural History Museum or whatever. So I think that there's an opportunity in order to, you know, try to drive more tourists into New York. I love that. I love that idea. I mean, just, you know, you were making this

point earlier about, you know, you come into work and for work and then you kind of stay for the weekend. Knowing that, like I imagine we've got the data and the numbers around that. How many companies are there? How many folks are coming in for business? And then, hey, how are we going to incent them to tag on a couple of days and be a tourist? Right. And because you work for ex-company that's headquartered there, great. They've partnered with the city. We're going to give you a discount on these five amazing experiences that you can have in the city. Right. And so I, you know, I think sometimes it's not necessarily about us creating new things. It's not necessarily about us like building this big thing that seems cumbersome.

Sometimes it's kind of just like looking at what are we already doing who's already there. And then how do we just one little thing, right? One little thing that we might tweak. One little thing that we might add. And I think the, you know, pulling from kind of the folks that are already there, meaning again, the companies, the residents, the visitors who are coming in to visit friends, even, you know, if you've got folks that, you know, are there for, that work and live there, but, you know, again, may have to travel to other boroughs. Like, how can we incent some of that stuff?

Like, there's some low-hanging fruit that I think that we're just not tapping into right now. Well, and you know corporations are not going to do anything for free. Right. So what would be great is that it was this back and forth where they were getting a perk to say that they were getting a break. So what if it was if you do this and set up these packages and are. guaranteed, you know, 15% of all participants will actually stay for the weekend and do a Yankees thing or do what it be. Then we'll give you 15% discount on the convention center and security and da-da-da-da.

You know, like something like that where they would, there would be an incentive on both sides, but the incentive also long term would be growing the love for New York City, right? Like, you know, you start those experiences with your family. I mean, that's how I started my love for New York City. And, you know, now I go back and I have all these great memories of that. So I think that you want them coming back. You want them coming back again and again and experiencing new things. And I think that I love the idea that there should be some corporate responsibility involved

because there are huge companies making billions and billions of dollars that are within that center. And definitely want to take the warning signs from someplace like San Francisco, you know, pretty much collapsed when comfort came. Yeah. Yep. Very good. I like everything I'm hearing and we're getting our wrap-up. What I'm hearing is sending, putting a spotlight on each borough and its unique personality so that there's not just a center concentration. There's a better distribution of the tourism that's there.

Curating experiences to specialty interests, specialty interests like the comedy scene, like the foodie scene, and really curating from. I guess one of the plain lands to when you leave, a top to bottom experience. Getting into corporate reinvestment into communities, not just for self-interest, but actual, you know, thinking through what the needs of the communities are and how to radiate the tourism out from within. Local housing swaps like that, you can, you know, sub out for a weekend and enjoy a completely different taste of the city and building a half-decent hotel on Staten Island for goodness sake. If we start to implement some or all of those measures, Melissa, do we fix New York tourism?

I think we do. I think one of the things that's great is that the idea of exploring, exploring where you live, exploring where you work, and then also sharing it with the general population in the world is something great. New York is a great place. And I think that there's so many treasures to be found. And I do think that these are great ideas in which a jumpstart can happen. And I think overall we would love to have a longer-term strategy too. Thanks, Melissa. So what do you say, Kadira?

Absolutely. I mean, I'll go back again. I think it's just all about how the city and again, the companies that are headquartered there can pivot. How do they pivot, you know, what they were already doing, maybe what they put together in blue sky. But, you know, I think as we all have said and we share, like New York City is a great place. It's resilient. It has been through tougher things. And, you know, this is something that they absolutely can come back.

MAC 4 from, they just need to lean in a little bit more. Yeah, thank you. Tim, did we do $4 billion worth of good here? I think we did maybe a billion. I think, you know, it's a long, it's a rebuilding year as, it's a rebuilding year as the Knicks used to say every year until this coming one. We are, we're always, we're always rebuilding. But I also think, you know, the, the truth is, I feel like New York is always like five

minutes away from having another cultural moment that like really makes it pop again. And so I have nothing but faith that, you know, those numbers will close the gap again. We're going to come back stronger than ever. I like it. Well, I have an idea. It's a campaign. It was inspired by this conversation. We're going to call it New York Minute.

It's going to be a live simulcast around all the socials, you know, simulcast stream every single day at a pre-prescribed time. And it's going to be what the Kennedy Center will aim to be or has been. It's going to be that cultural. only in New York moment, but you're going to be invited in globally to stop whatever you're doing and see a performance, a chef demonstration, see something that you have to be there in real time for. And then we can all talk about it. And then it keeps New York front and center in our daily life.

New York Minute. Let's do that. Love it. Okay. Well, that's my fix. I'm going to add it to the pile. Maybe we're at a billion two now. That is going to wrap us up for this East Coast flavored episode.

if we fixed it, you're welcome. Before we sign off, I'd like to, of course, thank Melissa and thanks to Kedira. And thank you to Tim Duffy. Tim, please tell our listeners how they can find you. You can find me on Twitter. I'm Tim Duffy. Blue Sky. I'm Tim Duffy.

A couple of places, Instagram, and others, I'm the Tim Duffy. I don't know that Tim Duffy doesn't use his account. So if anybody can get that for me, would really appreciate it. But otherwise, you can find me on the socials if you want. Find me on letterboxed. I watch a lot of movies. All right. Thanks, Tim.

controversial last topic. What's the best slice in New York? I mean, I got a, I got to talk about my hometown Daninos. They don't sell by the slice. You got to buy a pie, but it's worth it. And then I would say as a second, which is not a traditional New York size, the L&B Spamoni Gardens makes a great square grandma pie. Just fantastic. Just like the best. So I would say if you're going to hit Brooklyn and Satin Island, hit those, and you won't go wrong. But also, I will say, John Stewart gets this question all the time at The Daily Show from audience members. And what he says is, go anywhere. And it will be better than the slice you can get in your hometown. Wow. He usually asks where they're from,

and they're like, I'm from Dubuque, Iowa. And you're like, yeah, any slice. If you go pay a dollar at Tony Pepperoni or whatever, you're going to get a better slice than you're getting at, you know, wherever your local places. So. I might agree with that. I might agree. Nice. And I didn't get it last time I was there, but vanilla chip, Italian Isis, if you can find those, that is magic. Yeah. Well, thanks, Tim. Thank you to our listeners. Thank you, New York City. We love you. Thank you to the rest of the world. And we will see you next time. We hope you enjoyed this episode of We Fixed It. You're welcome. We go into every episode somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice, or anything that would get us in trouble. All trademarks, IP, and brand elements remain property, of their respective owners.