BILL NUMBER:  S479

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the tax law, in relation to the
disposition of a portion of sales taxes collected for hotel occupancy
in cities having a population of one million or more

 PURPOSE :

To provide each of the five boroughs of New York City with a modest
stream of dedicated funding to promote tourism within each individual
borough.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 provides that either 4 percent of hotel occupancy tax
revenue collected in each of New York City's five boroughs or
$300,000, whichever is less, will be allocated to that borough for the
purpose of promoting tourism.

Section 2 establishes the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

While New York's economy is still not fully recovered from the traumas
of the Great Recession, there is no question we are on our way back.
One critical reason why is that even as other industries struggle
              

recover, at least one of its major source of jobs and revenue is
thriving like never before: New York City Tourism. In 2012, the City
welcomed a record-breaking 52.7 million visitors despite the
devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy. In 2013, we broke that record
again with a staggering 54.3 million visitors. According to a report
by NYC & Company, tourism supports 350,000 jobs and visitors to our
city paid for more than 30 million hotel room nights and poured $39
billion directly into the city's economy. Moreover, the city's hotel
occupancy stands at 87 percent, the highest in the nation. Better yet,
there is good reason to believe that tourism remains a growth
industry, with much of its potential still untapped, particularly
outside of Manhattan. In the past seven years, 86 new hotels have been
built in boroughs other than Manhattan and a record-high percentage of
non-Manhattan hotels are under development for the next four years.

With historic and burgeoning neighborhoods like Arthur Avenue and
Woodlawn in the Bronx, St. George and Snug Harbor in Staten Island,
Ridgewood, Jackson Heights and Astoria in Queens, and Fort Greene,
Prospect Heights and Bushwick in Brooklyn, not to mention dozens of
other great neighborhoods across the city, it is clear that the
potential of the "outer boroughs" is near limitless. That is without
even considering up-and-coming neighborhoods in Manhattan like
Alphabet City and Harlem.

Mayor de Blasio and NYC & Company deserve enormous credit for
nurturing the tourism boom, and they are doing excellent work
promoting tourism beyond Manhattan with initiatives like "Neighborhood
X Neighborhood," which is "designed to support local businesses and
encourage tourism in neighborhoods outside traditional tourist
locations."  However, it is no slight to the extraordinary job they
have done to say that no one knows the Bronx like people from the
Bronx, or that no one knows Queens like the people of Queens, right on
down the line. In order best highlight the hidden gems of the five
boroughs it makes sense to turn at least a small portion of the
promotional responsibilities to entities that know their home boroughs
better than anyone else.

Experts in tourism promotion view it as an enterprise of concentric
circles: with the largest being international tourism and the smallest
being intraborough tourism. NYC & Company has done superlative job
promoting the wonders of New York City across the globe, and the
number of international visitors has more than doubled over the last
decade. They have also had tremendous success in marketing our city to
visitors from across the country and within the state itself. Finally,
with the recent "See Your City" campaign, they have begun a concerted
campaign to encourage New Yorkers to explore their own city. This
legislation is intended to create a seamless synergy between these
broader efforts, and carefully targeted campaigns to promote
off-the-beaten-path sites and experiences between boroughs and even
within a single borough. It's extremely possible to be a resident of
Williamsburg who has never ventured into Sunset Park for Dim Sum or
eaten a piroska while strolling Brighton Avenue. It's far too easy to
live in Long Island City without making the trip out to Woodside for
Panang Curry or Korean Bar-B-Que

This legislation will help foster the growth and expansion of New York
City's tourism industry by turning over a small portion of each
borough's hotel occupancy tax revenue (the lesser of 4% or $300,000)
to interborough entities designated by local law and approved by the
Economic Development Corporation for the promotion of local
restaurants, sights, and attractions. By reallocating resources for
this purpose, we can help foster our tourism boom in a long-term and
sustainable fashion.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

20l5-2016  S2238
2013-2014: S4986-A

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

No revenue will be lost, but a maximum of $1.5 million in tax revenue
will be reallocated annually for the purpose of promoting tourism in
the five boroughs of New York City. This borough-specific promotion
should, in turn, increase the economic impact of tourism.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which is shall have become law.