Tech:NYC Digest: June 9

Tech:NYC Digest: June 9

June 09, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes

Wednesday, June 9, 2021In today’s digest, NYC makes a big bet on the return of tourists, how companies are thinking about post-pandemic business travel, and the Tribeca Film Festival returns today to make sure you know NYC is back!Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

Some good news to start: Gov. Cuomo announced today that the statewide seven-day average positivity rate has dropped below 0.50 percent for the first time since the pandemic began. (NYS)

That’s good news for everyone — including tourists: NYC & Company, the city’s tourism and marketing arm, estimates 10 million people will travel to the city this summer. (MarketWatch)

  • It’s still a far cry from pre-pandemic levels: in 2019, NYC received an all-time record of 66 million visitors, filling more than 85 percent of its hotel rooms and flooding $47 billion of revenues into the economy.

  • In 2020, though, the visitor count fell by 67 percent to 22 million, much of which was counted in the ten weeks prior to the statewide lockdown.

Now, city officials and business owners are trying to make up as much ground as possible. Virtually all capacity and curfew restrictions are lifted, large-scale events are back, the subways are running 24/7 again, and Broadway tickets are being sntached up. And both Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo are putting resources behind the effort to lure tourists back.

  • A $30 million “Wish You Were Here in NYC” campaign will use stimulus program funds to encourage both domestic and international travel to the city this summer. (Bloomberg) The mayor has also eliminated a hotel tax for the summer in an effort to further prop up the hospitality sector. (Commercial Observer)

  • Another $40 million campaign is targeting global travelers, running ad and marketing campaigns in multiple countries to boast that New York has one of the lowest positivity rates in the country — and is a safe bet for your next trip. (New York Daily News)

NYC & Company is also taking advantage of the well-timed release of the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights” (tonight is premiere night!) to also promote more local, neighborhood-based tourism. The film partnered with the city to create a guide to Washington Heights and upper Manhattan designed to help visitors experience destinations featured in the film, like J. Hood Wright Park and the pedestrian tunnel at the 191st Street subway station. (Wall Street Journal)

There’s a jab for guests too: Pop-up vaccination sites in Times Square, Central Park, and the High Line specifically set up to provide the quick “one-and-done” Johnson & Johnson vaccine to tourists remain open. (CBS New York)

In related reading:

  • NYC revs up again: What travelers can expect in a newly reopened NYC (Washington Post)

  • The Return of NYC Nightlife: 56 Places to Drink, Dance, and Hang Out Too Late This Summer (Grub Street)

  • The Age of Reopening Anxiety: What if we’re scared to go back to normal life? (The New Yorker)

As nationwide infection levels fall and travel advisories are lifted, companies — and certainly major airlines — are expecting a resurgence in business travel. But now that client and customer meetings have gotten comfortable with the virtual option, the bounceback is far from certain.

Slowly and not-so-surely: Corporate trips remain 70 percent or more below pre-pandemic levels, but airlines have seen the pace of business travel bookings pick up in recent weeks. Investment bankers have been among the first to visit clients in-person again, and some companies are starting to send sales teams back on the road to get an early jump over competitors. (Wall Street Journal)

  • Return will be gradual. Many highly trafficked international business routes remain limited by quarantine requirements and entry restrictions. Airlines expect an uptick in the fall, but a full rebound could be years away. 

What the boss says: Travel executives agree that demand is rebounding, but they’re divided on whether it will reach pre-pandemic levels. 

  • Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky doesn’t believe business travel will ever return to the way it was before the pandemic, given how much time we’ve spent adjusting to new remote capabilities. (CNN) 

  • Delta Air LInes CEO Ed Bastian predicts a boom in business travel, but expects traditional corporate travel to be reduced by 20 percent to 30 percent from 2019. (Reuters)

  • Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury expects business air travel to eventually return to pre-pandemic levels, pretty simply because people miss flying. (Business Insider)

The new normal: The shift to remote work over the course of the pandemic has given rise to digital nomads. The old model of business people taking rapid return flights between financial centers is being replaced by ‘bleisure’ trends, a hybrid blend of work and leisure, with people staying in their destinations for longer periods of time. More meetings can be done in one trip, and work and personal time are mixed. (Financial Times)

But who knows: Maybe supersonic jets, which would cut down the NYC-London flight from six hours to 3.5 hours, will change the game all over again.

Further reading:

  • Do You Really Need to Fly? (New York Times)

  • How to Safely Get Your Team Back on the Road (Forbes)

  • The pandemic killed business travel. For the sake of the climate, it should stay dead (Fast Company)

  • Pack Your Bag. Business Trips Are Coming Back. (Bloomberg)

With vaccines proving to be extremely effective, and kids 12 and older eligible to get their shots, you might be thinking again about vacation travel for yourself or your family. France today opened its borders to vaccinated Americans, and many other countries are available to visit for vaccinated individuals with varying restrictions. Do you have summer vacation travel plans?

  • *|SURVEY: Yes, I have a vacation scheduled|*

  • *|SURVEY: Yes, I have already traveled for vacation|*

  • *|SURVEY: Not yet, but I plan to schedule a vacation|*

  • *|SURVEY: No, I don’t have plans to travel this summer|*

  • DUOS, a New York-based digital health company with a personal assistant for aging, raised $6 million in seed funding from investors including Redesign Health and Forerunner Ventures. (PR Newswire)

  • Guest House, a Denver-based home staging company, raised $3 million in seed funding. Range Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Ludlow Ventures, 87 Capital, Rucker Park Capital, V1 Ventures, and Break Trail Ventures. (Crunchbase News)

  • Kafene, a New York-based buy now pay later startup focused on subprime consumers, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Global Founders Capital and Third Prime Ventures co-led, and were joined by Valar Ventures, Company.co, Hermann Capital, Gaingels, Republic Labs, Uncorrelated Ventures and FJ Labs. (TechCrunch)

  • Tracer, a New York City-based data intelligence platform, raised $9.9 million in seed funding. Investors included Marc Lore and Thirty Five Ventures. (Insider)

  • Verbit, a New York-based transcription and captioning platform, raised $157 million in Series D funding at a valuation north of $1 billion. Sapphire Ventures led, and was joined by Third Point, More Capital, Omer Cygler, Azura, ICON and insiders Stripes, Vertex Ventures and Vertex Growth, HV Capital, Oryzn Capital, Viola Ventures and ClalTech. (Forbes)

  • June 10: Virtual: Rebuilding and Revitalizing NYC’s Businesses and Workforce, with NYC Deputy CTO Alexis Wichowski, Cornell Tech’s Urban Technology Hub founding director Michael Samuelian, Bronx Community Foundation co-founder Derrick Lewis, and Company Ventures’ Urban Tech Hub executive director Robinson Hernandez. Register here.

  • June 10: Virtual: NYC’s Comeback: Attracting Back Remote Workers, with Union Square Hospitality Group CEO Danny Meyer, Partnership for New York City CEO Kathryn Wylde, Regional Plan Association CEO Tom Wright, and Manhattan Chamber of Commerce CEO Jessica Walker. Register here.

  • June 16: Virtual: Functions.NYC: Algorithms and Government Decision-Making, with NYC Algorithms Management and Policy Officer Alex Foard and UrbanLogiq CEO Mark Masongsong. Hosted by Tech:NYC. Register here.

  • June 22: Virtual: The Future of the Office with New York tech HR leaders, including Vivvi Head of People Lauren Gill, CommonBond VP of People Keryn Koch, and Suzy Chief People Officer Anthony Onesto. Hosted by Tribeca Venture Partners. Register here.

The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off its 20th year today as the first film festival in North America to return in-person since the pandemic began. Events for this year’s festival are taking place at outdoor venues across all five boroughs, and many are free and open to the public.

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