NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Times Square is slowly returning to its old self as more and more tourists make their way back to the Crossroads of the World a year into the pandemic.
The Times Square Alliance reports an increase in pedestrian foot traffic from this past week alone thanks to warmer weather and vaccines.
“The best is yet to come for New York City and for Times Square,” said Tom Harris, acting president at the Times Square Alliance.
“We have a little ways to go, but we will be back and we will be better than we were before. We’re not going to fall back to the old norm, we’re going to fall forward—be better, be stronger,” Harris said.
The Times Square Alliance has been tracking visitor traffic daily and said the average since September was 100,000 visitors per day. This past week, that average went up to 115,000.
Despite being just .01% of the city’s land mass, Times Square generates 15% of its economic output.
“A recovery of the city is not going to happen without a recovery of Times Square. About 50% of our businesses are open, and I say that with confidence, because that’s more than were open at the beginning of the pandemic,” Harris said.
Harris said he can’t say for sure how long the uptick in visitors will last, but he’s optimistic.
“There’s a great deal of confidence. Every day more people are being vaccinated. On April 1, we’re lifting some of the travel restrictions, so I think that will open the door to more people coming to our city,” he said.