new york tourism ads

'We❤️NYC'—see the new campaign for New York City inspired by a tourism classic

Billboards and social/digital efforts aim to create an upbeat dialogue with New Yorkers about their love of the city.

Few advertising creations have stirred as much civic pride as “I❤️NY,” the New York State tourism campaign devised by Mary Wells at the agency Wells, Rich, Greene in the 1970s and bearing Milton Glaser’s famous logo.

Now, a new campaign themed “We❤️NYC” —designed to run alongside the first—aims to capture some of that same magic by issuing an inclusive, modernized rallying cry to drive civic action, showcase the city’s strengths and mobilize residents to keep New York flourishing.

Created by the Partnership for New York City, “We❤️NYC” is a creative collaboration between agencies MaryamB, Founders, Grain Group and Graham Clifford, along with some independent creators. It will come to life, beginning this week, in digital, social and outdoor ads celebrating New Yorkers who are doing great things and encouraging all New Yorkers to engage in volunteerism and other civic activities. 

The campaign is built around an approved adaptation of Glaser’s logo, with a new font and a more emoji-like heart. (New York State’s Department of Economic Development, which owns the “I❤️NY” mark and funds the state tourism work, will now own the “We❤️NYC” mark, too—but is not otherwise involved.)

The effort is designed to draw people in, stir feelings of pride and direct that energy to useful ends. “This is our city, and it's up to us to come together and create its future,” Maryam Banikarim and Andrew Lerner of MaryamB told Ad Age in an email.

‘We,’ not ‘me’

The core differences between “We❤️NYC” and “I❤️NY” are obvious—“We” instead of “I” and “NYC” instead of “NY.” The latter change puts the focus squarely on the city, whereas “I❤️NY” has always been a statewide campaign. Using “We” rather than “I” is more of a philosophical change to be more in step with the times and emphasize themes of inclusiveness and collaboration.

“This campaign is a reminder of our greatest strength—each other,” the MaryamB execs said. “Time and again we have come to the rescue of our city as a collective. Not ‘me’ but ‘we.’ We’re looking for real New Yorkers who won’t wait around for somebody else to come and save the day but will take it upon themselves to help address the problems the city faces.” 

Many of the ads begin with “We❤️...” before outlining things New Yorkers love—from the comical to the profound. The copy is snappy with an insider vibe, speaking to New Yorkers in their own language and referencing citywide cultural truths.

The tone is meant to be “smart, with attitude, irony and toughness ... reflecting what it's like to live and work here,” said the MaryamB execs. “We wanted to remind New Yorkers that when it comes to NYC, ‘the juice is worth the squeeze.’”

Many of the ads will live in digital out-of-home ads, so the executions can evolve based on what turns out to be most engaging.

Along with providing a smile and a jolt of inspiration at the moment of viewing, the other goal is to actually effect change. The ads use URLs and QR codes to send people to @welovenyc on Instagram and the website welovenyc.nyc , both of which will house actionable and aspirational content. For example, posts on those hubs will celebrate New Yorkers who are already stepping up, invite people to share their own way of making New York City great and showcase civic opportunities that people can join.

The latter include Earth Day activities with the Department of Parks & Recreation, community cleanups with the Department of Sanitation, performer auditions for the MTA’s “MUSIC Under New York,” and various NYC Service and NY Cares opportunities.

“The ‘We❤️NYC’ campaign is meant to be a conversation with New Yorkers, to engage in dialogue, and to make it easier for New Yorkers to get involved and to contribute to the campaign itself,” said Banikarim and Lerner. “Whether they send in a poster, share a story about why they love NYC, suggest an emoji ... this campaign is meant to be yours.”

A modernized design

Visually, “We❤️NYC” is intended to be more modern than “I❤️NY.” 

Glaser used the ITC American Typewriter font; the new mark is in Grotesque Sans, which is used a lot in NYC subway signage. The heart symbol in “I❤️NY” is quite flat; the new one has more of a 3D effect—“which you sort of need to do to speak to anyone under 35 or so today,” Banikarim and Lerner said. “Think of the video game ‘Pong,’ released in the ’70s, versus a game from today like ‘Madden 23.’”

The MaryamB execs admitted it was “daunting and exhilarating” to design a new logo inspired by such an icon—a fascinating challenge to modernize something that’s half a century old for new platforms.

“Obviously, we wanted to reference the original mark and to give it more of a twist because now we’re living with a very different media ecosystem,” they said. “The mark needs to work for different age groups and ethnicities.”

Beyond the heart, the campaign also uses additional emoji—the language of Gen Z. “In a city that speaks over 600 languages, we wanted to find a way to connect universally,” the MaryamB execs added. “Emojis are understood regardless of what you speak, do, think or believe.”

Emotion and economics

The Partnership for New York City is a nonprofit organization dating to the 1760s. Currently, comprised of 330 members from top businesses across the city, it is designed to serve as a broker between business, government and the civic sector to unlock the full economic potential of New York. 

Members of the Partnership for NYC along with multiple other companies have stepped up to support the campaign financially as well as through in-kind donations of media, communications and professional services.

The initiative arrives in the wake of Covid, which was devastating for the city, as the its legacy of bringing people together was derailed by a disease keeping people apart. In citing the need for a refreshed civic-pride initiative, organizers also point to a troubling data point from a 2022 Morning Consult Survey—that 62% of New Yorkers believe the city is heading in the wrong direction. 

“The good news is that 72% of them are committed to New York City and want to be part of its recovery,” Banikarim and Lerner said. “In the 1970s, when this original campaign and mark was launched, New York was in a difficult place. And like New Yorkers always do, they acted. Today, we face a different, yet similar backdrop. ‘We❤️NYC’ is meant to be a rallying cry. We need to fight for the things we love, and we love New York City. Whether it’s by volunteering, helping a neighbor, supporting a local business or even simply picking up a piece of trash, no action is too small.” 

This article originally appeared in Ad Age .

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New York City launches largest-ever marketing campaign to help tourism recovery

Post date: Jun 28 2021

Date: Jun 28 2021

By: Travelweek Group

NEW YORK — New York City is going on a promotional blitz, launching its largest-ever global tourism marketing and advertising campaign to promote all that the Big Apple has to offer.

The unprecedented US$30 million tourism recovery campaign, dubbed ‘It’s Time for New York City,’ is being rolled out as restrictions continue to be lifted, with the first phase launching last week on June 24. In total there will be three phases featuring television, digital, outdoor media and partnerships, all of which has been made possible through American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The campaign’s launch comes as New York City expects to welcome 36.1 million visitors this year, recapturing more than half of its record 66.6 million visitors in 2019.

“The Summer of NYC is here and now it’s time to tell the whole world about how this city is building a recovery for all of us,” said Mayor de Blasio. “Tourism impacts hundreds of thousands of jobs across the five boroughs and its return will fuel our recovery even more. The greatest travel destination in the world is ready to welcome back visitors from around the region, country and globe and we can’t wait to greet them.”

‘It’s Time for New York City’ will first target travellers in 23 markets across the United States, followed by Mexico, Canada and Latin America, with plans to expand farther internationally as other key markets reopen for leisure and business travel. 

The campaign will launch with a cooperative marketing and advertising partnership with AAA Northeast to boost regional travel this summer. Consumers can browse an official resource to Enjoy the Best of Summertime in NYC , including unique guides to each of the city’s five boroughs. The collaboration will also include special offers and the chance to experience personalized NYC packages for 8 million AAA members in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. It will also include travel agent trainings and promotions across digital and email.

As part of phase two, a TV and video spot will launch nationally in early July, asking American travellers to consider ‘Where Were You in the Summer of ’21?’ The video underscores the return of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and drives the message of urgency. A longer version of the video will also be featured on NYCgo.com and in the coming months NYC & Company will create a series of videos that highlight seasonal, significant events throughout the boroughs.

In phase three, NYC & Company will focus on international markets and activate the campaign both digitally and through out-of-home advertisements with global media partner JC Decaux. It will first launch in Mexico this summer, followed by Canada and select countries in Latin America. International feeder markets will also include the U.K., Europe and other key regions as travel restrictions evolve.

Locals and visitors can engage with the campaign using the hashtag #ItsTimeForNYC and browse through new five-borough itineraries – and design their own – on NYCgo.com/timeforNYC , a new permanent tool. There are currently 24 unique itineraries online and counting, created by NYC & Company staff and well-known New Yorkers like A$AP Ferg, Rocco DiSpirito, the NY Knicks and NY Rangers.

To help stimulate the city’s meetings and conventions sector, the campaign will also include an iteration titled ‘It’s Time to Make It NYC.’ This week, NYC & Company will launch a B2B tool kit for the local business community that provides engagement opportunities.

The 2021 summer season in New York City promises to be an action-packed one, with Formula E taking place July 10-11, New York Auto Show on Aug. 19-28, Central Park ‘Homecoming’ concert in August and US Open Tennis from Aug. 30 to Sept. 12. This summer alone, the city expects to welcome 10 million people. Since the quarantine requirement for domestic travellers was lifted on April 1, New York City’s hotel demand has steadily risen from 338,367 rooms for the week ending April 3, to 457,568 rooms for the week ending June 19, a 35% increase.

Tags: Lead Story, New York City, NYC

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See It: NYC Launches National Ad Campaign To Spark Tourism 'FOMO'

"it's time for new york city," a 30-second television spot soon will tell people across the country, where the delta variant is spreading..

Matt Troutman , Patch Staff

NEW YORK CITY — America, it's time to come back to New York City.

That's the message a new 30-second television spot soon will tell people across the country.

The ad is part of a $30 million campaign designed to restart tourism to the city, which flagged during the coronavirus pandemic.

Find out what's happening in New York City with free, real-time updates from Patch.

Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the ad this week during a news conference with Fred Dixon, head of NYC & Company. Both middle-aged men repeatedly threw out the youthful term "FOMO," as in "fear of missing out."

"We want people to be FOMO free, and the best way to do that is just to come right here and experience it," de Blasio said.

We have a message for the world: it’s time to come back to New York City! Ya gotta be here. #SummerOfNYC pic.twitter.com/enlwWS5U72 — Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 8, 2021

The ad asks, "Where were you summer '21?" before launching into a star-laden, landmark-heavy montage displaying images of a vibrant city.

Dixon said the campaign is the city's largest-ever, with the television spot launching its second phase: "It's Time For New York City."

He said the spot will be the first of three this year, with each geared toward summer, fall and winter.

"The message is clear: make plans to visit because it's time for New York City," he said.

"What we're seeing in Missouri right now, it's very troubling, you're absolutely right," de Blasio said. "Clearly correlates to a gap in vaccination or an unwillingness on a large scale for folks to get vaccinated. That's not what we're seeing here. We're seeing more and more people stepping forward all the time, and I think you're going to see that grow as we get closer to September and people are preparing to come back to work, come back to school."

About 9.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been distributed in New York City, with roughly 68 percent of its adult population receiving at least one dose, according to city health data.

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Why New York Thinks Tweaking Iconic Tourism Slogan From ‘I’ to ‘We’ Matters

Dawit Habtemariam , Skift

March 27th, 2023 at 2:05 PM EDT

Tourism marketing slogans should stick to their domain when they try to spur locals to civic pride and action: focusing on what makes the destination so great to attract locals and visitors in the first place.

Dawit Habtemariam

New York launched a marketing campaign last week that plays on Milton Glaser’s iconic “I Love New York” tourism slogan and logo to drive local civic engagement. It’s operating in an environment where it’s harder than ever to sell a tourism slogan to a skeptical public.

Developed in 1976, “I Love New York” was originally developed to promote tourism to the state and has become a cultural icon recognized all over the world and a symbol of the Big Apple. It’s one of the most successful slogans in tourism, said Dave Serino, founder and chief strategist for TwoSix Digital , a marketing agency.

Using tourism marketing resources to drive civic pride isn’t new. Explore St. Louis has a foundation dedicated to inspiring civic pride. Choose Chicago is using portions of its recent $5.5 million award to clean up “neglected” South Side and West neighborhoods to help residents feel civic pride, which would help make these areas attractive for tourists.

With the tagline “We Love NYC,” the two-year campaign aims to reignite New Yorkers to have pride in their home again and take civic action after enduring a rough few years during the pandemic. About 70 percent of the public told surveyors they “feel very or pretty negatively” about the direction of the city, said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City , a consortium of corporations and business executives. 

Major reported reasons were concerns about affordability and public safety — a public concern at the time I Love New York was developed. The pessimism doesn’t bode well for the city’s future in areas like tourism. “We don’t believe we can sell New York City unless New Yorkers believe in it first,” Wylde said. 

“We Love NYC” is supposed to galvanize locals to come together and clean up their neighborhood, patronize their local business, figure out how to work with their local precinct and take other forms of action to move the city in the right direction, Wylde said.

Marketing campaigns can drive civic engagement. To encourage their locals to show visiting friends and relatives around their city, Explore St. Louis has used marketing campaigns over the last few years showcasing famous St.Louis citizens like John Goodman, attractions and activities and open house events. The Gateway Arch saw nearly 20,000 visits during the week of Christmas, up from 6,000 the week before, said Explore St. Louis Chief Marketing Officer Brian Hall. 

But the We Love New York campaign isn’t getting much love. The ad got extensive coverage in news sites like The New York Times , The Gothamist and Eater New York and social media , much of which has been ridicule and negative criticism . Some also mistakenly think the new ad is replacing the original one.

pic.twitter.com/RyLVKXDIvp — Adi Joseph (@AdiJoseph) March 20, 2023

“We love New Yorkers have 8.5 million opinions, that’s how it goes in this city,” said Maryam Banikarim, founder of MaryamB, a marketing agency that worked on the campaign. “Welcome to the conversation, our goal was to start a conversation but really it’s just the beginning.”

It’s very hard to intentionally build community support with tourism slogans today, said Serino. “I think you are seeing more failures than successes with taglines,” he said. 

For one, they need a long period of time to really make an impact. Some of the most successful slogans trace go back decades and their owners have been careful to modify. “Virginia Is for Lovers” has been used since 1969 and has been largely untouched, said Serino. New slogans with modifications to their the original face an uphill in public acceptance.

instead of "We Love NYC", alternative phrases: -We Tolerate NYC -We Commute NYC -We Stoop NYC -We Smell NYC -We Survive NYC — Karen K. Ho (@karenkho) March 20, 2023

Tourism slogans also don’t last long due to changes in political executive leadership.  Under different governors, for example, Pennsylvania has run through a list of tourism mottos: “Pennsylvania Memories Last a Lifetime,” ”You’ve Got a Friend in Pennsylvania,” and “America Starts Here.” The current one is the obscure “Pennsylvania. Pursue Your Happiness.”

In addition, tourism slogans can’t tell people what to feel or do, and locals have to see something they want to be a part of. The most recent slogan to reach success in staying power and win community support was Pure Michigan.

The campaign was launched in 2010 to drive tourism and spread awareness of the Michigan’s beautiful natural resources. At the time, Michiganians felt down on their luck amid the state’s mass unemployment and the automotive industry bailouts. Locals surprisingly adopted the tourism slogan as a rallying cry for their state. 

“Instead of trying to start at the bottom and push up, this program got the train rolling down the track and everyone hopped on and it was full steam ahead,” Serino said.

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Photo credit: Times Square. New York City leaders are using a famous tourism icon to drive civic pride and action. Andreas Niendorf / Unsplash

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City to spend $30 million on ad campaign to boost tourism

New York City will fund a $30 million advertising campaign aimed at bringing tourism and business travel back to the city to jumpstart its economy, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at a Wednesday morning press conference. 

The campaign will start in June, and will be the most expensive marketing effort in the city’s history, de Blasio said. 

De Blasio said that the campaign would tell people that the city is reopening, and that energy and activity are increasing around the boroughs.

“We need to celebrate it, and we need to let people know we're open for business,” de Blasio said. “Come to the city that's been so heroic during this crisis.”

The campaign will focus initially on domestic travelers, who typically make up about 80% of the city’s tourists, according to Fred Dixon, the chief executive of NYC & Company, the city’s official tourism group.

Dixon said that the campaign will include ads on multiple platforms, as well as on social media and working with social media “influencers.” 

Tourism is a major economic engine of New York City. In 2019, travel hit an all-time high of 66.6 million individual trips, generating about $47.4 billion in direct spending in the city. 

Last year, NYC & Company predicted that tourism would not return to normal in the city until 2025.

Story by Ari Ephraim Feldman; video by Shannan Ferry

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New York City Tourism Gets a Boost With New Ad Campaign

The record tourist year of 2019 resulted in a 72 billion-dollar economic injection for New York City businesses, and now, political leaders are trying to bring back those heady times with a advertising and public relations campaign.

As the hotel and restaurant industry begins to recover, there are questions about Covid-19’s impact and what the future has in store. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $30 million tourism marketing blitz beginning in  June. This will be the city’s largest-ever campaign to recharge the moribund industry, which at one time employed 400,000 workers and injected billions into the local economy.

“We are open for business,” de Blasio said during a briefing. “There’s only one New York City.”

The campaign, “NYC Reawakens”, aims to attract both domestic and international visitors to the city. The funds will come from federal stimulus programs and go toward TV ads and social media campaigns, including a Wish You Were Here at NYC campaign, in which New Yorkers can invite friends to visit the city, the mayor said. The city will relaunch its annual Summer Restaurant Week from July 20 to Aug. 15, he added.

Rising Tourism Numbers Still Requires Attention In Keeping COVID Under Control

City officials said New York isn’t going to require visitors to show proof of vaccination or take Covid-19 tests to enter, but de Blasio said increasing vaccination rates will help boost travel.

The city’s tourism arm forecasts 36.4 million visitors for this year, recovering more than half of the record 66.6 million visitors from 2019.

Other tourism indicators, while early and subtle, are starting to recover. Since January, the hotel occupancy rate has ticked up 6 percentage points, to 35%, according to hospitality data company STR. The industry reported its fifth straight monthly increase in average daily room rates, which have risen 12% since December.

On a recent Saturday, 4,100 people rode the ferry from Lower Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, up from 2,500 three weeks before, according to Rafael Abreu, vice president for marketing at Statue Cruises.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been averaging 7,000 daily visitors, up from 4,000 when it reopened in the summer. The American Museum of Natural History reported a similar increase. New York said Monday that it will raise the capacity limit for museums, zoos and movie theaters.

There’s still a long way to go. Tourism is struggling after suffering a blow surpassing even the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. It has hardly rebounded to the extent of other measures of New York prosperity, such as the stock market. The hotel occupancy rate is down from 88% two years ago, STR data show.

Along with the decline in visitors, many rooms are empty because about 200 of the city’s 700 hotels are closed, some permanently. Others, such as the Mandarin Oriental and the Park Hyatt, reopened this month, with several others to follow.

During the briefing, chef Daniel Boulud praised the campaign and said restaurateurs are ready to welcome visitors. He pointed to the upcoming opening of his Midtown restaurant Le Pavillon

”The rebirth of our economy, but also our culture, that’s what we need,” Boulud said. “New York always attracted talent, ambition and creativity.”

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NY Encourages Tourism Comeback With New Ad Campaign

With New York State’s infection rate currently the lowest in the nation, state officials are encouraging locals and tourists alike to plan their summer vacation in the Empire State.

The state is launching a series of new advertising campaigns selling both downstate and upstate New York as hot tourist destinations as the ‘vaccine summer’ gets underway. Though the first commercial focuses on New York City, Cuomo did mention Long Island’s beaches and vineyards as destinations for tourists to enjoy.

“We want to broadcast this all across the world,” Cuomo said during a press conference at the Javits Center. “We want people coming to New York, and we want people to know they are welcome.”

The governor encouraged New Yorkers to take advantage of their home state as well this summer, with Covid still raging in other parts of the world.

“You’re planning your summer vacation, forget traveling, forget getting on a plane, going to Europe where you still have Covid infection rates that are much higher,” he said. “Stay in New York — this state has anything you could possibly want to do.”

Cuomo boasted of the attractions that will be coming back at near full capacity, with seating reserved for vaccinated patrons, including Citi Field and Radio City Music Hall. The Javits Center will also return to its role as a convention center when the New York International Auto Show returns on Aug. 29.

While touting the city’s tourist attractions, the governor still took the chance to hit rival Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration over its handling of crime in the city, where gun violence has spiked to historic highs and violence against Asian Americans continues to be a regular occurrence, with another vicious attack  caught on camera  in Chinatown on Memorial Day.

“New York City has to address the crime problem, it is a city responsibility,” Cuomo said. “We can do everything we’re doing, New Moynihan Train Hall, new Penn Station, tourism ads — people have to feel safe, and crime is a major problem in New York City.”

This story first appeared on amNY.com .

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Stop Spreading the News: The Case for a New York Without Tourists

The city is mobilizing, once again, to sell visitors on a dream. But what if we just let New York be itself?

By Jamie Fisher

Disasters never really make sense. Part of the brilliance of Damon Lindelof’s HBO adaptation of “Watchmen” was its ability to recognize this, and weave the purposefully inane chaos of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s comic into ordinary human experience. In the original story line, half of New York City is killed by a giant squid, a plot point so sociopathically goofy that Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie replaced it with a tasteful explosion. But Lindelof followed through. What would the aftermath of that attack look like — the trauma, the fear, the desperate tourism campaign?

In the show’s fifth episode, we see a focus group watching a proposed ad. “We came back for all the hit Broadway shows!” says a woman in front of a theater, Playbill in hand. “We came back to hike through Central Park for hours and not see another soul,” says a man in full hiking gear. “It’s so romantic!” The dorky, tragedy-blind campaign contrasts with the terror everyone still carries about post-squid New York. One character, watching the focus group pretend-chuckle at a joke about calamari, looks ready to dash his head against the wall.

When this episode first aired, in 2019, it felt like a framework for grappling with 9/11. But by the time I first saw it, in the summer of 2020, the squid had become a metaphor for the coronavirus. And by June 2021, the New York Department of Economic Development had released an alarmingly similar ad. Slow pan over the skyline as Sinatra’s “New York, New York” trickles in. Central Park. A lingering shot of the Statue of Liberty at evening. “Come back,” the “Watchmen” ad begged. “Come be a part of it,” the real ad pleads.

The state’s $40 million blitz was paired with $30 million from the city, in what The Times called a “Please Come Back” campaign. The Broadway League threw in a $1.5 million sweetener with its “This Is Broadway” campaign. In one of its ads, Oprah’s voice reassures viewers that it’s safe to return , as archival photos flood the screen, essentially asking: Don’t you trust Lin-Manuel Miranda and the dancing sailors from that Cole Porter thing? In Times Square this month, there was a three-day extravaganza of panels and show-tune singalongs, with Miranda himself rushing out of the Richard Rodgers Theater to lead a surprise rendition of “New York, New York.”

On the “This Is Broadway” website, neon quotes about the magic of theater drift across the screen. “The theater is life,” says Chita Rivera, making you think anxiously about the ways in which the theater was, until recently, death. A chyron on the site flashes “BUY WITH CONFIDENCE,” making you pause — why wouldn’t you be confident? A kidnapped-sounding Idina Menzel quote got caught on my phone, reappearing three times in a row: “I will never leave the theater,” it threatened.

New York City is a soup of tropes — half-remembered dreams of movies and cultural references and self-congratulatory songs about the distinctiveness of the city, all of them oddly indistinguishable. It is an actual place that is also conterminous with a brand. So it isn’t too odd that a real tourism ad for New York and a parodic one would end up in the same place. Whether Covid-era or post-squid, every “reawakening” ad operates in the enormous shadow of 9/11.

It was called the “New Normal” back then, too. Gov. George Pataki announced a $40 million “I ❤ New York” campaign, and Broadway producers united to declare “I ❤ New York Theater.” In an ad broadcast on more than one hundred stations nationwide, a then-less-deranged Rudy Giuliani asked viewers to “come see New York united in its finest hour.” “And you’ll say it, too,” Pataki added, before the two men droned together, with the peaceable boosterism of people paid to be in a Magic Bullet infomercial, “I love New York.” As for the Broadway producers’ ads: unbelievably, another chorus singing “New York, New York.”

For a brief time last year, at the height of pre-vaccine Covid, New York was both less New York than ever before — no tourists, no shows, no working water fountains for some reason — and more New York than it usually has the chance to be. In this creepily tranquil interregnum, we had a vision of New York as just a place and not an idea, a city and not a performance of a city.

You can imagine a future for New York as just a city, no longer relentlessly performing itself.

Any city famous enough to have a brand is always performing that brand in the public imagination. Thom Andersen’s film-essay “Los Angeles Plays Itself” made this point back in 2003. When people think of L.A., Andersen argued, they see a snarl of cars in the sun, a moody shot of Jack Nicholson, a city that looks more like “Dragnet” and “Blade Runner” than a shaggy, living place. “Los Angeles is where the relation between reality and representation gets muddled,” he observes; landmarks become movie locations, and movie locations become landmarks. New York’s public image is only slightly less self-consuming. When we think of New York, we see the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Christmas tree — features with no functional relationship to New Yorkers’ daily lives — and Broadway, which plays itself every night.

A part-time copy editor once told me he was in New York “for the energy.” He was living in a shared basement in Queens. In the years since, I’ve thought about “for the energy” as a kind of Zen koan for whatever it is that makes us put up with New York. Lately businesses have lobbied hard for their own vision of “the energy”; they argue that remote workers will miss out on whatever creative magic a shared Keurig provides, invite us back to brunch and shopping with the girls, warn that our callousness will be the death of midtown. Underneath rhetoric about workplace synergy and the lunch-hour rush is a terrified attachment to the Old Normal. Like tourism ads, these arguments push New York’s timeworn brand of hustle and bustle, lights and crowds. But it is baffling how infrequently they refer to anything else actual New Yorkers feel affection for: dive bars and public pools, Ravi Coltrane at the Blue Note and Korean ceramics at the Met, the dollar racks at the Strand and vendors selling bagged mango at Broadway Junction. Some of those things rely on visitors, who help sustain our nightlife and great institutions. But others don’t, or don’t have to. What could we be if we let go of Vessel selfies, “The Phantom of the Opera,” meetings that could have been emails?

You can imagine a future for New York as just a city, no longer relentlessly performing itself, free from expectation. Or you can imagine it as all performance, a depopulated theme park, with tourists foraging Central Park for familiar images while locals collect in whatever affordable pockets they let us keep. Post-9/11, post-Covid, you wonder if New York might feel like America’s haunted house, where everything is somehow sad and tinged with death. Reading climate reports, I dream of a half-submerged Atlantis of subway geysers, the closing bell chiming groggily from the depths of the Hudson. In a hundred years, we could be an attractive environment for a colony of giant squid. They’ll love the energy.

Jamie Fisher is a writer whose work focuses on culture and literary criticism. She is working on a collection of short stories.

Source photographs: Getty Images; screen grab from YouTube.

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With new zealand ad deal, nyc tourism extends partnerships to all regions of the globe, foreign visitors are the city's biggest spenders.

Inspiration meets innovation at Brandweek , the ultimate marketing experience. Join industry luminaries, rising talent and strategic experts in Phoenix, Arizona this September 23–26 to assess challenges, develop solutions and create new pathways for growth. Register early to save .

In Auckland today, New York’s destination marketing organization and its counterpart in New Zealand’s largest city announced a new agreement to market the two destinations while sharing best practices on sustainable tourism.

The pact, which also includes Air New Zealand , is NYC & Company’s first in the South Pacific, which means it currently has partners in all continental regions worldwide except Antarctica. In North America, the New York tourism marketing group works with Toronto; in South America with Buenos Aires, Argentina; in Europe with Amsterdam, Madrid and Manchester, U.K.; in Asia with Tokyo; and in Africa with Cape Town, South Africa. Many of these partnerships also promote airlines, including Porter out of Toronto, Virgin Atlantic out of Manchester and JAL out of Tokyo.

NYC & Company’s ads in its partner cities are based on the organization’s local ad campaign—created in-house and launched in 2018—whose headline and tagline are “Famous Original New York City” and “Welcomes you always,” the latter meant to reinforce a message of diversity and inclusion. The ads also feature an illustration of the head of the Statue of Liberty.

The tourism group’s Auckland ad also promotes Air New Zealand’s new nonstop service between Auckland and New York, which begins Oct. 29.

In the new Auckland agreement—signed with both Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Development and Air New Zealand—the organizations are doing an advertising swap, trading media valued at $150,000.

NYC & Company ads will run on bus backs and digital billboards in Auckland from April 6 through June 1, while the New Zealand ads will run on bus stop shelters through all five New York boroughs from May 4 through June 28. Timing is designed to enable prospective travelers to book Air New Zealand’s new service.

In Euromonitor’s 2019 survey of the world’s 100 most visited cities, New York ranked eighth and was the only U.S. city among the Top 10. Although international visitors to New York are far outnumbered by domestic ones (out of 65 million visitors in 2018, 51.5 million were from the U.S.), international visitors spend much more money than domestic ones because they stay longer—more than six nights, on average—compared to less than three nights for domestic visitors.

International visitors also generated approximately half of the $46.4 billion spent by all visitors to New York in 2018, and New Zealand’s visitors are particularly desirable: The country is among New York’s top five international market spenders.

Optimism amid concerns of an outbreak

The timing of the new collaboration is fortuitous, in light of the current, global coronavirus outbreak , since it enables New York to promote itself in a new region, thus becoming less dependent on Asia for international tourists.

Noting that in the first quarter of the year, Chinese visitors usually account for only two of every 100 travelers to New York, Fred Dixon, president and chief executive of NYC & Company, said the bulk of Chinese visitation typically comes in the second half of the year. “If the situation is resolved in the next few months and access normalizes, we will be poised to regain some of that travel audience due to pent-up demand and new promotion by year’s end,” he said.

The new Auckland pact, he added, would help make New York “well-poised to be cushioned in any downturn or regional weakness.”

According to Dixon, international visitation grew more slowly last year than in 2018, due to both the strengthening of the dollar, making the city a more expensive destination, and trade tensions, which he said suppressed Chinese visitation “to a degree.” President Donald Trump’s administration has also been vocal in its attempts to ban travel or immigration from several countries, so far including Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela and North Korea—with more immigration restrictions enacted this year against Nigeria, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan and Tanzania.

“When particular parts of the travel community are banned or made to feel unwelcome, the United States loses out,” he said, adding, “We believe it is possible to have secure borders and open doors.”

In a phone interview before the new pact was announced, Auckland Tourism chief executive Nick Hill said New York and Auckland are both eager to grow their visitor economies “in ways that are socially and environmentally sustainable. [The new agreement] will offer a lot of value and different experiences that will probably be quite complementary.”

Nick Judd, Air New Zealand’s chief strategy, network and alliances officer, said by phone, also before the Auckland announcement, that the carrier will fly to Newark Liberty International Airport, a major hub for United Airlines (a partner of Air New Zealand), thus enabling its passengers to connect to other United flights there.

Jane L. Levere

• @Jane_L_Levere

Jane L. Levere is a freelance journalist based in New York City.

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New York State encourages tourism comeback with new ad campaign

With New York State’s infection rate currently the lowest in the nation, state officials are encouraging locals and tourists alike to plan their summer vacation in the Empire State. 

The state is launching a series of new advertising campaigns selling both downstate and upstate New York as hot tourist destinations as the ‘vaccine summer’ gets underway.

“We want to broadcast this all across the world,” Cuomo said during a press conference at the Javits Center. “We want people coming to New York, and we want people to know they are welcome.” 

“You’re planning your summer vacation, forget traveling, forget getting on a plane, going to Europe where you still have Covid infection rates that are much higher,” he said. “Stay in New York — this state has anything you could possibly want to do.”

Cuomo boasted of the attractions that will be coming back at near full capacity, with seating reserved for vaccinated patrons, including Citi Field and Radio City Music Hall. The Javits Center will also return to its role as a convention center when the New York International Auto Show returns on Aug. 29. 

While touting the city’s tourist attractions, the governor still took the chance to hit rival Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration over its handling of crime in the city, where gun violence has spiked to historic highs and violence against Asian Americans continues to be a regular occurrence, with another vicious attack caught on camera in Chinatown on Memorial Day. 

“New York City has to address the crime problem, it is a city responsibility,” Cuomo said. “We can do everything we’re doing, New Moynihan Train Hall, new Penn Station, tourism ads — people have to feel safe, and crime is a major problem in New York City.”

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New York City could see 70% increase in tourists in 2022: New study

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- After more than two years, New York City is on the verge of a tourism boom -- and the city needs it.

The saxophone player in Times Square was playing the blues Wednesday night, but he's making a lot more money doing it than he has in a long while.

After months of sparse audiences, you now have to wait in line to get a ticket to a Broadway show, but if you want a COVID test, step right up.

Charlie runs Brisbees Hot Dogs and recalls a time when there was no business in the city at all.

"It was dead, there were no people coming to Times Square," Charlie said.

During the pandemic, tourism spending dropped in the city by more than half, but according to a new study by the city's tourism agency, New York is likely to see a 70% increase in tourism this year.

ALSO READ | Couple arrives in New Jersey after fleeing war-torn Ukraine

Approximately, 56 million people will visit the city in 2022 including 8 million from abroad. And they are spending.

"We have four shows in three days," one tourist said.

"I've always wanted to come," Samantha said.

Samantha came in for the week with 11 people from Chicago.

"During the whole pandemic, when everything was shut down it just made us want to get out more and it just made you think of everything you were missing so the second we could we packed up and headed out," she said.

It's nice to be making money again, too.

ALSO READ: BA-2 subvariant of Omicron COVID-19 strand makes up 1/3 of new cases

"Definitely there's more people out on the plaza then there has been the past few months, it's nice to see them and it's been very nice for business as well," Charlie said.

The city has seen the big increase in tourism without tourists from China, which remains locked down.

China was the fastest growing portion of tourism in New York before the pandemic, so when they can come back, tourism could see another big spike.

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Town apologizes for ‘sexualizing’ tourism ads: ‘show us your regina’.

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Tourism officials in the Canadian city of Regina have apologized for a “gross” new ad campaign that has been slammed as “misogynist” and “steeped in masculine toxicity.”

Locals in the city of Saskatchewan, located 100 miles north of the US border, eagerly awaited the unveiling of the new ads last Thursday, which came as part of a $30,000 rebrand by the tourism organization Experience Regina.

However, the residents were revolted by the inclusion of two sleazy slogans in the campaign that poked fun at the fact that the city’s name rhymes with the word “vagina.”

The slogans — “Show us your Regina” and “The city that rhymes with fun” — appeared on the tourism organization’s website and on hoodies before they were quickly pulled in the face of backlash.

“I want to start by apologizing, on behalf of myself and our team, for the negative impact we created with elements of our recent brand launch,” Experience Regina CEO Tim Reid said in a statement on Sunday.

“It was clear that we fell short of what is expected from our amazing community with some slogans that we used,” he added. “We crossed the line on some of the poking fun at ourselves around our city name.”

Reid’s apology didn’t appear to placate all who were outraged by the raunchy campaign, with some calling for him to resign.

Others lashed out at the tourism honcho, including one who snarled : “Do better. This is pathetic and disgusting,

“Of course a man would be in charge of this joke of a campaign,” a second critic stated. “Offensiveness aside it’s super cringe and dated humor. You can be clever without resorting to trashy slogans.”

Once you notice it, it's hard to imagine this made onto the internet. As Experience Regina's inaugural public engagement campaign no less. pic.twitter.com/oiDFjsjozh — Paul Dechene (@PaulDechene) March 17, 2023

Meanwhile, a number of prominent female Regina residents have spoken out about the sordid slogans, according to CBC.

“It’s sexualizing the city when it isn’t necessary,” former tourism board member Kristen McLeod stated,

Meanwhile, local councilwoman Cheryl Stadnichuk said she was “incredibly disappointed and appalled” by the campaign.

“The slogans associated with the campaign, however, are misogynist and objectify women’s bodies,” she wrote. “As one woman pointed out on social media, would we engage school children with this messaging? I also ask, do we want men harassing women in bars chanting ‘Show us your Regina?'”

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UK Ads Promoting Holiday ‘Butt Lifts’ in Potential Breach of Rules

• The Guardian

A post on Instagram shows the back of a woman in tight blue leggings, her lower body taking up most of the frame. The words “Temptingly sexy curves ahead … Ready to turn heads and break hearts?” are written in the caption. It is from a company offering Britons the chance to get a Brazilian butt lift while enjoying a luxury holiday abroad.

The advert is one of thousands on social media promoting cosmetic surgery tourism by companies in Turkey to UK residents, including gastric band operations, hair transplants and Brazilian butt lifts – a process that involves fat taken from elsewhere on the body being injected into the buttocks – in a trend that has triggered safety concerns among doctors in Britain.

Guardian analysis of the Facebook ad library found almost 2,700 adverts promoting BBLs alone since May 2022. Many adopted a similar format: advertising the trips as part of a holiday.

It has become such a problem that the Advertising Standards Agency has issued a warning to cosmetic providers abroad, setting out strict rules on promoting them. The watchdog said it had recorded an increase in ads targeting UK consumers for these services, with many examples of advertising rules being broken.

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Hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, workforce shortages and a chronic lack of social care capacity, the UK health system is under acute strain. Record numbers are paying for private healthcare, including spending up to £3,200 ($4,050) to have a cataract removed and £15,075 ($19,079) on a new hip, amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists.

Hundreds of thousands are choosing to go abroad. The Office for National Statistics estimates that in 2019, 248,000 UK residents travelled overseas for treatment, up from 120,000 in 2015.

Turkey is the number one destination. In 2022, the country welcomed 1.2 million people for healthcare procedures; medical tourism is to bring £2 billion into the country every year.

On the cosmetic surgery side of things, social media and reality TV shows such as Love Island have promoted a certain aesthetic. People are keen to improve their looks, but at a cheaper price than available in Britain. In June last year, as Love Island aired, searches for “Turkey teeth” – slang for dental veneers gained on a cosmetic holiday to the country – reportedly increased by 10,000 percent overnight. It came after the contestant Jess Harding described her type as a “pretty boy with Turkey teeth.”

As a result, adverts are increasingly appearing on Instagram and Facebook to appeal to consumers. But experts are concerned.

Nora Nugent, the vice-president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said, “Turkish clinics advertise package deals including hotel and flights, and patients see what looks like a reasonable package. But what you are not supposed to do is promote it as a holiday or trivialise what it’s about. You are not meant to trivialise risk and advertise these operations as holidays.”

“It’s not meant to be glamourised … or promise unrealistic outcomes, such as a guaranteed breast size,” she added.

The ASA advises that adverts should bear in mind that linking surgery to a holiday may trivialise the decision to undergo the procedure.

The Committee of Advertising Practice – the industry body responsible for the UK’s advertising codes, which is administered by the ASA – has also begun enhanced monitoring to identify and tackle irresponsible ads.

“Every year, many people go abroad and have positive experiences undergoing cosmetic surgery. But as more companies are advertising to UK customers, we’re also seeing more examples of the rules being broken,” said Shahriar Coupal, the CAP director. “This needs to stop.”

One advert from Clinichub – a company promoting itself as “your trusted health tourism agency in Turkey” – which started running in January, reads: “Transform with confidence through BBL, breast surgery, tummy tuck, rhinoplasty and more. Experience the pinnacle of service where your journey is not just a procedure, but a luxurious stay in five-star hotels, surrounded by the enchanting beauty of Istanbul.”

The Clinic Hub did not provide a comment.

Another post publicised in February by Dr Süleyman Özer, who advertises online as “Best Doctor Turkey”, asked consumers: “Wouldn’t you like to feel happy as well?” It continues: “With modern technology and reliable surgical methods, you can achieve the appearance you’ve always dreamed of.”

The advert also includes a photograph that promotes BBLs, tummy tucks and rhinoplasty at 30 percent off. Özer did not reply to attempts to contact him for comment.

In 2022, the ASA upheld a complaint about an email ad for cosmetic surgery that stated a procedure could improve wellbeing and skin condition, increase energy levels and help customers get more sleep.

“All cosmetic procedures carry risks, and this is an important step in cracking down on irresponsible adverts aimed at vulnerable people in the UK,” said health minister Maria Caulfield.

At least 25 British citizens have died during medical tourism trips to Turkey since January 2019, according to the Foreign Office. BBLs carry the highest risk of all cosmetic surgeries – at least one death occurs for every 4,000 procedures.

Last year UK government officials met their Turkish counterparts after the death of a woman prompted concerns that people may underestimate the risks of pursuing cosmetic surgery overseas. Melissa Kerr, 31, from Gorleston in Norfolk, travelled to the private Medicana Haznedar hospital for buttock enlargement surgery in 2019. She died at the hospital on the day of the surgery.

Nugent welcomed the ASA warning about cosmetic surgery tourism ads but questioned how enforceable action by the UK advertising watchdog would be against companies based overseas “and outside of their area of jurisdiction.”

“These ads have a big influence, particularly on Instagram and especially with younger patients as they use these platforms to research procedures,” she added. “There are also private Facebook groups with previous and prospective patients running. Companies set them up and people request to join. They are run for UK patients as well, and it’s another way social media influences decision-making when it comes to cosmetic surgery.”

By Sarah Marsh

• Beauty : Wellness

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Chinese Consulate’s Pressure on New York City Mayor Adams Raises Concerns Over CCP Influence

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Taiwanese President’s Visit

The documents show that Winnie Greco, a senior Chinese-American advisor to Mr. Adams, served as Mr. Huang’s contact. Additionally, weeks before Ms. Tsai’s itinerary was made public, Mr. Huang had pressured officials at New York City Hall.

On March 3 last year, a Chinese consulate official requested a call with Ms. Greco through email, citing an “emergency.” At that time, Ms. Tsai’s visit to the United States was not yet public, but media reports indicated she had such plans.

Ms. Greco forwarded the request to Edward Mermelstein, New York City’s commissioner for international affairs, and his team. However, due to redactions in the email made by City Hall, it is unclear how officials responded to the request or if the call even took place.

On March 15 last year, another Chinese consulate official asked Ms. Greco to arrange a dinner at Mr. Huang’s residence, inviting Mr. Adams to attend. The dinner was planned to coincide with Ms. Tsai’s visit to New York. Ms. Greco informed Mr. Mermelstein about this and requested the Chinese officials to fill out a meeting application form. However, the city government did not confirm whether the meeting took place, and the consulate did not respond to requests for comment.

By March 29 last year, Ms. Tsai held a banquet in New York City for overseas Taiwanese. Just hours before the banquet began, Mr. Huang wrote a warning letter at the last minute, which was passed to Mr. Adams by Ms. Greco. In the letter, he stated that he knew Mr. Adams, the deputy mayor, and staff at the Mayor’s Office were all invited, but he urged the city government to avoid any official contact with the Taiwanese president during her visit to New York City.

Paid Protesters

Mr. Adams and his team had a connection with the accused Mr. Lu and his brother Lu Jianshun, who was in charge of the Changle Association, which organized underground Chinese police stations. Mr. Lu Jianshun donated $2,500 to Mr. Adams’ mayoral campaign in 2021, but after Mr. Lu Jianwang’s arrest last year, Mr. Adams returned the donation.

The incident between the Chinese consulate and Mr. Adams was not an isolated event. While Ms. Tsai was heading to California to attend a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the CCP’s interference continued. The Chinese consulate general in Los Angeles recruited around a thousand pro-CCP supporters to protest, paying them $400 per person.

Influence Operations

The consular district of the Chinese consulate in New York City includes New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. In May last year, Liang Litang, founder of the “New England Alliance for the Peaceful Unification of China,” was arrested by the FBI and accused of being a Chinese agent.

The indictment showed that Mr. Liang reported information on anti-CCP Chinese and Chinese-American organizations in the Boston area to officials at the Chinese consulate in New York City, including their names, political positions, and activities, and engaged in influence operations under their guidance.

Documented, a New York website for immigrant news, reported last month that the FBI is investigating the role of the Chinese consulate during the March 2023 anti-Taiwan protests and is interviewing members of the Chinese community.

After Mr. Adams was elected in 2021, he appeared publicly with Mr. Huang on several occasions. For example, on the evening of Jan. 26 this year, both of them attended a Chinese New Year dinner hosted by China Central Television (CCTV) in New York. The CCTV is the Chinese communist regime’s propaganda mouthpiece.

The Epoch Times reported in September last year on Ms. Greco’s connections to the CCP. It pointed out that she founded a company for the New York Sino Agricultural Sciences Organization in 2012 and opened an office in the town of Warwick in Orange County, New York, attempting to purchase a nearby state prison closed in 2011 but failed.

The next year, she established a food export subsidiary, Valley Fresh Direct, claiming to export products such as wine. It is worth noting that the location is close to the training base of New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts, a non-profit arts company that promotes traditional Chinese performing arts but is frequently targeted by the CCP.

On Feb. 29, the FBI raided two homes of Winnie Greco in the Bronx. This investigation is headed by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which has prosecuted several cases related to the CCP in recent years, including Mr. Lu Jianwang’s case.

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When and where the solar eclipse will be crossing the U.S.

A total solar eclipse will grace the skies over North America on Monday, one of the most hotly anticipated sky-watching events in recent years.

Weather permitting , millions of people in Mexico, 15 U.S. states and eastern Canada will have the chance to see the moon slip between Earth and sun, temporarily blocking the sun’s light .

The total solar eclipse will be visible along a “path of totality” that measures more than 100 miles wide and extends across the continent. Along that path, the moon will fully obscure the sun, causing afternoon skies to darken for a few minutes.

Follow live updates on the solar eclipse

In all other parts of the continental U.S., a partial solar eclipse will be visible, with the moon appearing to take a bite out of the sun. Exactly how big a bite depends on the location.

The first spot in North America that will experience totality on Monday is on Mexico’s Pacific coast at around 11:07 a.m. PT, according to NASA .

After moving northeast across Mexico, the eclipse’s path travels through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Slivers of Michigan and Tennessee will also be able to witness totality if conditions are clear.

In Canada, the eclipse will be visible in parts of southern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton, at the eastern end of Nova Scotia.

The timing of the eclipse and the duration of totality varies by location. Most places will experience around 2 minutes of darkness, but the longest periods of totality are typically in the center of the eclipse’s path.

This year, the longest stretch of totality will last 4 minutes and 28 seconds in an area northwest of Torreón, Mexico.

Below is a list of timings for some U.S. cities along the path of totality, according to NASA .

• Dallas: Partial eclipse begins at 12:23 p.m. CT and totality at 1:40 p.m. CT.
• Idabel, Oklahoma: Partial eclipse begins at 12:28 p.m. CT and totality at 1:45 p.m. CT.
• Little Rock, Arkansas: Partial eclipse begins at 12:33 p.m. CT and totality at 1:51 p.m. CT.
• Poplar Bluff, Missouri: Partial eclipse begins at 12:39 p.m. CT and totality at 1:56 p.m. CT.
• Paducah, Kentucky: Partial eclipse begins at 12:42 p.m. CT and totality at 2:00 p.m. CT.
• Carbondale, Illinois: Partial eclipse begins at 12:42 p.m. CT and totality at 1:59 p.m. CT.
• Evansville, Indiana: Partial eclipse begins at 12:45 p.m. CT and totality at 2:02 p.m. CT.
• Cleveland: Partial eclipse begins at 1:59 p.m. ET and totality at 3:13 p.m.
• Erie, Pennsylvania: Partial eclipse begins at 2:02 p.m. ET and totality at 3:16 p.m. ET.
• Buffalo, New York: Partial eclipse begins at 2:04 p.m. ET and totality at 3:18 p.m.
• Burlington, Vermont: Partial eclipse begins at 2:14 p.m. ET and totality at 3:26 p.m. ET.
• Lancaster, New Hampshire: Partial eclipse begins at 2:16 p.m. ET and totality at 3:27 p.m.
• Caribou, Maine: Partial eclipse begins at 2:22 p.m. ET and totality at 3:32 p.m. ET.

Other resources can also help you figure out when the various phases of the eclipse will be visible where you live, including NationalEclipse.com and TimeandDate.com .

If you plan to watch the celestial event, remember that it’s never safe to look directly at the sun, including through binoculars, telescopes or camera lenses. Special eclipse glasses are required to safely view solar eclipses and prevent permanent eye damage.

Denise Chow is a reporter for NBC News Science focused on general science and climate change.