Merry Outlook Seen For City Merchants as Holidays Near

This holiday season promises to be more than merry for the city’s restaurants, hotels, and retailers. Already, owners of restaurants and clubs report they’re booked solid with individuals and corporate parties, and through December fully 88% of city hotel rooms are reported reserved – the highest level since 1999.The city’s official tourism and marketing organization, NYC & Company, is predicting that 8.8 million out-of-towners will visit this season, at least 3% more than came to town last year.Starting Thursday, they can go somewhere they haven’t been able to go for months, when the world-famous toy store F.A.O. Schwarz reopens.Even some big-ticket items are being snatched up at record rates. Want an $899 ticket for two to view the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve from the Broadway Lounge at the Marriott Marquis? Then call back next year.“I think this year is a lot more positive,” the president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde, said. “The attitude among the retailers is a lot more positive than last year. Last year we were still feeling the recession and the hangover of 9/11. This year is a much more positive environment.”Ms. Wylde said the three regional airports saw an increase of 9.1% in traffic this August compared to the previous August. At that rate, she said, the number of people moving through the airports in December will jump to 8 million from 7.5 million.The president and chief executive officer of NYC & Company, Cristyne Nicholas, said not only is overall tourism up, but the key moneymaker, international tourism, is on the rise.“International visitors are roughly 16% of visitor volume, but they contribute 40% of the spending,” she explained.She said more tourists from Britain, Germany, Japan, and Brazil are flocking to New York this season to take advantage of the weak dollar, and to visit a city with a low crime rate and special features such as the freshly redesigned Museum of Modern Art.Although the season is looking jollier than last year, Ms. Nicholas said, it will be less lucrative than holiday seasons were before the attacks of September 11, 2001. She said the international visitors may be returning to the Big Apple, but there will still be 20% fewer than there were in 2000. That year, tourism had a $25 billion impact on the city, she said; this year the figure will be about $23 billion.Still, Ms. Nicholas said, the influx of tourists is proving that New York is on the right track. She said it’s helping everyone, especially luxury hotels.The concierge of the Mercer Hotel in SoHo, Jake Lamstein, said he sold out two to three weeks in advance last year. This year he’s getting booked two full months in advance.“It’s astounding,” he said. “You can’t find a room in the whole city. We usually know the spots where you could find them. It’s just been brutal recently.”At the Maritime Hotel in the Meatpacking District, rooms are filling up fast, and at least three events a night are booked through the holiday season, according to the director of sales, James Palmer.“It’s just full, full, full. The calendar is just full,” he said. “Last year it wasn’t quite as busy. The demand wasn’t quite as high.” He said people in the worlds of fashion and entertainment are placing the bulk of the reservations for holiday parties. Those blasts are also big at trendy and traditional restaurants and clubs alike.At Tavern on the Green, there were two or three events in December 2003 that were so big they needed to rent out the whole restaurant. This December there are four or five, according to a reservation taker, David Conner. He said patrons have made more bookings for smaller parties as well.A spokeswoman for the Four Seasons, Gabrielle Steele, reported the restaurant still has a few tables but is rapidly receiving reservations – from around the world.Tony Theodore, co-owner of Aer Lounge, a nightclub set to open on West 13th Street December 2, said he’s already packed with corporate holiday parties. He said Citigroup is throwing a party for 750 people at Aer Lounge in mid-December. That event is taking over both floors of the new nightspot. Other companies are taking over one of the club’s three lounges. Diesel, for example, is putting on a party for 150.Other companies that have booked December reservations there include Bumble and bumble, the hair-care company; J. Walter Thompson, the ad agency, and Dennis Publishing, which owns Maxim and Stuff magazines.A host at Cesca, the popular new restaurant on the Upper West Side, said he’s recommending that diners call four to six weeks in advance. It’s booked solid – with a long cancellation list – for Thanksgiving Day, he said, and holiday-season events have already begun there, such as one for Gourmet magazine a few weeks ago.John Fanning, general manager of Beppe, a Gramercy trattoria, said table reservations are up over last year. In addition, he said, there are usually about three private parties a week, but next month the private room is booked almost every night.“I think most people feel a certain consistency in the economy,” he said. “I think they’re a little less panicky about whether and if and how many dollars they have. It’s a mind-set.”Josh Goodman, general manager of Schiller’s Liquor Bar on the Lower East Side, said he’s been fielding more calls than usual for dinnertime reservations, and significantly more for lunchtime parties of between 10 and 25 people.The world of retail is also looking brighter. Not only is FAO Schwarz, the Fifth Avenue store whose owners filed for bankruptcy protection and closed its doors in February, reopening on Thanksgiving morning, but analysts are predicting retail sales to rise dramatically over last year.The National Retail Federation is anticipating a 4.5% gain over last year’s holiday season.A retail-sector analyst at Bernard Sands, Richard Hastings, said he wouldn’t be surprised if sales were even stronger, up to 5.25% better than last year. He said consumer electronics and specialty apparel sales would be particularly high.Mr. Hastings predicted that in New York City that would translate into record sales at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Best Buy, and Circuit City.In addition, he said, the season will be longer this year than ever – keeping stores hopping through January.“The holiday season is not defined in a rigid manner,” he said. “It really begins right about after Labor Day and officially begins after Halloween. I know that sounds bizarre but it’s true.”

Merry Outlook Seen For City Merchants as Holidays Near

Merry Outlook Seen For City Merchants as Holidays Near

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