According to a new study, foot traffic in New York City’s business areas is still down 33% from its pre-COVID-19 levels, making it one of the worst recovery rates in the nation.
In the investigation, University of Toronto researchers counted the number of people who entered the so-called “downtown” or business/tourist areas of major American and Canadian cities, including shoppers, tourists, and workers. For the purposes of the research, the “downtown” areas of the Big Apple were deemed to include Lower Manhattan, which includes the Wall Street financial sector, and Midtown, which includes Times Square.
By comparing March to mid-June in 2023 with the same time in 2019, researchers were able to assess foot traffic through the presence of mobile phones. Out of 66 cities surveyed, New York’s recovery rate of 66% placed it at number 54.
With 103% of the foot traffic from before the pandemic, or 3% greater, Las Vegas placed top. Sin City was in fact the only place where foot traffic increased from pre-COVID-19 levels.
A study researcher proposed that the trend in society toward remote employment has resulted in a sharp decline in foot traffic in Gotham’s commercial areas. “We’ve been tracking since early 2022, and New York was an early comeback story – but then stalled,” said Karen Chapple, director of the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, to the New York Post. “Part of this is due to commercial office tenants gradually giving up their leases,” she said.
Compared to the Big Apple, other large American cities that had a significant increase in foot traffic recovery include Miami (92%), Nashville (88%), Atlanta (85%), Los Angeles (83%) and San Diego (80%).
Several other cities have encountered difficulties in restoring their central business district’s pre-pandemic density: just 61% of Chicago’s foot traffic existed prior to the outbreak, whereas less than 60% of Seattle and Minneapolis recovered. The recovery rate of high-tech San Francisco was 67%, almost exactly the same as that of New York City.
However, Partnership CEO Kathryn Wylde cited encouraging statistics showing a more robust recovery, pointing out that August was the busiest month ever for New York City’s regional airports, handling over 13.3 million passengers. She also mentioned that in October, the 192nd new company opened in Times Square, surpassing the 179 that closed during the pandemic.
