New York Leaders' Brutal COVID Rules Are Withering Multibillion-Dollar Tourism Industry

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, the COVID-19 pandemic has put stateside sightseeing on life support - particularly in New York City, where the tourism market produces roughly $70 billion in economic activity in a typical year.

The state of New York earned substantial media attention at the outset of the pandemic, going a step beyond face covering, social distancing and restaurant capacity restrictions to implement the highest bar nationwide with regard to public health protocol.

"The true hotel occupancy is less than 10 percent," Hotel Association of New York City CEO Vijay Dandapani told Bloomberg.

With New York's 2016 gubernatorial report revealing that one in 12 state employment opportunities are tied to tourism or a travel-adjacent industry, those numbers have forced hotel owners and employees into hard times.

Nearly 30 percent of New York City's 700 hotels had yet to re-open as of Oct. 9, Bloomberg reported.

As of Friday, New York wasn't the worst performing state in the union with regard to COVID-19 death rates.

It was the second worst, behind New Jersey, according to a New York Times database.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/new-york-leaders-brutal-covid-rules-withering-multibillion-dollar-tourism-industry