Tourism agency NYC & Company is temporarily laying off more than half its staff from next month.
As America’s Covid-19 hotspot, New York City has seen tourism all but dry up and the company will furlough 77 employees.
That represents 55% of the organization’s workforce.
"With the business community largely closed, revenue from advertising, promotions and membership activity is severely impacted. Therefore, difficult decisions had to be made to balance the budget," said spokesperson Chris Heywood.
Furloughs will be effective through July.
Hotel occupancy rates have declined to about 25% and live shows, sports and events that NYC & Company normally promotes have all been shelved or postponed until later in the year.
To combat this it introduced the ‘Virtual NYC’ campaign for prospective visitors to experience online.
The city welcomed 66 million visitors last year, capping 10 consecutive years of tourism growth.
