“We are extending a warm welcome invitation:” NYC sales mission calls on Toronto

Despite the “unprecedented and often uncertain times that we’re living through right now,” Julie Coker, the president and CEO of New York City Tourism + Conventions, was in Toronto last night to highlight that Canadians are welcome.

“A visit to New York starts with an invitation and we’re extending a warm welcome invitation to you and your customers to New York anytime,” Coker shared addressing the crowd at Storys on the last stop of a Canadian sales mission.

Although there’s been a 19 per cent dip in Canadian visitation, the city forecasts a five per cent increase in arrivals from Canada in 2026 over 2025. Coker attributes this uptick to the fact that the Canadian sentiment against U.S. travel is shifting slightly compared to last year.

“I think we’re in a different space than we were last April. When you think about the first quarter of last year, January 20th and beyond, there was a lot of conversation around tariffs and a lot of uncertainty for a number of countries, certainly including Canada, that caused consumer sentiment to be the way that it is. We also saw some fluctuation in currency, which obviously always impacts travel. Those things I think have eased some as we moved away from last year,” she noted. “I think we’re making positive strides and I think we are reacclimatizing ourselves with one another and we’re forging ahead with relationships. We’ve heard from a number of Canadian visitors that they’re ready to return, they’re to see more of the city and come back. For those reasons, we are hopeful.”

A strong showing of nine partners joined New York City Tourism + Conventions for a strategic sales mission in Montreal and Toronto 

Notably, Coker doesn’t see Air Canada’s recently announced route cuts into JFK as cause for alarm.

“They’ve made a pause on those flights to JFK and that’s primarily because of the construction that is happening around JFK. It is a temporary pause for them, it goes into effect in June through October. There are still 34 nonstop Air Canada flights into New York City so the airlift and the air capacity between our two countries is still extremely strong,” she shared.

Coker and her team were joined by nine destination partners: Anna Karnowski, Mercer Labs Museum of Art and Technology; Robert Fesselmeyer, Empire State Building Observatory; Trevor Estock, Walker Hotels; Mark Topley, New York Yankees; Moriah Shtull, MoMA; Alexandra Walsh, The Westin New York at Times Square; Anthony Germano, Hudson Yards; Anita Fong, Hotel Indigo Lower East Side and Michael Parsa, Rockefeller Center.

“It’s a combination of hotels, attractions, the New York Yankees are also with us, I know sports is such a big driver for Canadians. We’re happy to be in the market, it’s such an important market for us. Being here face-to-face is really critical,” added Britt Hijkoop, VP, Communications, International for New York City Tourism + Conventions.

New York City Tourism + Conventions’ Julie Coker and Britt Hijkoop with Kirk D’Souza of Reach Global Marketing

Overall, NYC welcomed 65 million visitors in 2025, a 98 per cent recovery from its 2019 peak.

“While international visitation is 20 per cent of our total visitation, it does account for 50 per cent of our spend,” Coker said. “So New York City’s commitment to the international market is unwavering and it’s unmatched, because we know what it means.”

As for where to stay, there are a number of new, renovated and soon-to-open properties available from Faena New York and The Voco Times Square to the Kimpton Era Midtown New York.

“New York City has the most active hotel development pipeline in the United States with a wide range of brands, properties and price points across all five boroughs,” shared Renee Wilson, manager, Tourism Market Development for New York City Tourism + Conventions. “We have over 125,000 rooms in active inventory and will reach a total of 130,000 rooms by the end of 2027. What’s particularly remarkable for this is that half of the index is in the outer borough beyond Manhattan. We’re getting new hotels in Brooklyn, in Queens.”

A big draw this summer will be soccer, as the New York New Jersey region will host eight FIFA World Cup 2026 matches, including the final.