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Surge in Christmas New York shoppers THE NUMBER of
Irish shoppers heading to New York in the run-up to Christmas has surged
by 15 per cent this year — as the result of an increasingly weak
dollar and cheaper accommodation.
More than 170,000 Irish people are expected to make a trip to the Big
Apple in the three months to Christmas Day spending close to €170million.
Department store Macy’s said Irish people are its third most frequent
visitors.
This is despite Ireland ranking as the 122nd smallest nation in the world
by population size.
Dublin-based tour operator Tour America’s managing director Mary
McKenna said one of the main reasons for such an increase in bookings
this year was the weak US dollar — which recently hit a new record
low against the euro resulting in cheaper New York city accommodation.
She said: “This year there has been a tremendous growth in the number
of people taking shopping trips to New York and most people are looking
for designer clothes and electrical goods.
“The Irish shopper is most likely to be female aged between 30
and 50 spending on average €1,015 per trip.”
Ms McKenna said its packages to New York this Christmas have almost sold
out.
Last year Macy’s in New York reported an equal number of Irish and
British visitors in its store on any one day on the lead-up to the 2006
holiday season and this year the picture seems quite similar.
Joan Wolff from Macy’s said: “When we started tracking Irish
visitors weren’t way up like that.
“Now they are third after the Canadians and the British.”
Marketing firm NYC & Company said nine out of 10 Irish people travelling
to New York each year did so on a shopping trip.
It said the activities of Irish visitors in New York yielded one of the
highest spending patterns of any international market.
Total spending by Irish visitors to New York city last year reached ?438million,
according to NYC & Company figures. |
