The Jet Set: - The Economic Impact of International Travelers on New York's Current Market

Date: 
Wednesday May 7th, 2008

Time:
8.00-9.30am

Location:
San Domenico
240 Central Park South
(Between Broadway and 7th Avenue)

Please RSVP by replying to this email or writing to rsvp@luxurycouncil.com by no later than May 2nd.

In the event that your plans change we appreciate the courtesy of a cancellation.

On April 16th 2008 NYC & Company released their first quarter visitor projections estimating that one million more travelers visited New York City in the first quarter of 2008 than 2007.  With the current weak dollar attracting more international travelers than ever its looking more and more likely that New York City will reach Mayor Bloomberg's goal of attracting 50 million visitors annually by 2015.

Currently about 19% of New York's visitors come from the international market, and New York continues to account for about 27% of all international travel to the US.  The present rise in visitors also makes for a significant rise in spending - in the first quarter alone tourist have spent an estimated $6.3 billion, compared to the estimated $5.6 billion from just a year ago.

In 2006 visitors to New York City spent a collected $24.71 billion, with 2008 likely to break all previous records how does your business reach this market and how do you capitalize on their "free" wallets?  Our panelists will draw insights from their experience in the New York market and what trends they currently see happening.

Mr. Dixon, a travel professional with over sixteen years of experience in the industry, has the overall responsibility for developing New York City as a premier leisure travel destination with primary focus on product development, travel trade and consumer marketing. He oversees NYC & Company’s network of international sales and marketing representatives in seventeen overseas markets as well as the tourism development team in New York City. 

During his tenure at NYC & Company, Mr. Dixon has overseen the aggressive expansion of the City’s international representation network from six countries to seventeen with forays into new markets including China, South Korea, Russia, Scandinavia, Brazil, Spain and the Benelux. Expansions also came to mature markets to capitalize on growth opportunities in Canada, Mexico and Japan. This period has seen substantial growth in international arrivals with annual growth of 17% in 2007 alone.

Prior to joining NYC & Company, Mr. Dixon served in key positions at the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, Planet Hollywood International, The Biltmore Estate, the Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, Delta Airlines and most recently as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Group Sales Box Office/BestOfBroadway.com in New York City.

Mr. Dixon, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, resides in Midtown Manhattan.

Ryan leads the Business Insights team at American Express in driving business results for Merchants and Bank Issuers through consulting, design and execution of analytics. A key aspect is deepening and strengthening consulting and analytic capabilities, positioning American Express as a best in class provider of information based products and services to Merchants and Bank Issuers.  Prior to his current role, Ryan led other Information Management functions at American Express.

Prior to joining American Express, Ryan was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he identified and delivered on opportunities for growth across several client industries, including retail, consumer packaged goods and healthcare.  Ryan began his career in the U.S. Navy as a Nuclear Submarine Officer.

Ryan holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University

Charles McLean is the Senior Vice President for Communications and Marketing for the American Museum of Natural History in New York.  He was recruited for the position by an executive search firm in February of 2008.  Prior to his work at AMNH, Mr. McLean was a Principal at The Dilenschneider Group, Inc., a communications consulting firm in New York.  Mr. McLean came to DGI from Borderless Communications, a company he created as a platform for high-level consultancy to governments and international businesses in London in 2004. 

Charles McLean has developed communications strategies for global corporations, world-renowned institutions and government officials.  He has worked directly with heads of state, foreign ministers and CEOs.

Mr. McLean began his career as a broadcast journalist with NBC News.  During his fifteen years with the network he covered news in 57 countries (including coverage of seven wars and armed conflicts), and served five years as NBC’s Africa Bureau Chief.  Out of Africa, Mr. McLean won a national Emmy Award for his work as a correspondent in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square uprising.  During the Gulf War, he reported from Baghdad, Amman, Damascus, Riyadh, Dhahran, Kuwait City and southern Iraq.  He covered the marine spy scandal in Moscow, the release of the TWA hostages, the Aquino revolution in the Philippines, the Achille Lauro hijacking, civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, the Falklands (Malvinas) war in Argentina, and the search for the remains of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele in Brazil, among many other news stories.

Mr. McLean made a successful transition from journalism to communications strategy during his five years as a Senior Managing Director at Hill and Knowlton in Washington, DC.  While at H&K, he headed the agency’s “Public Diplomacy” (international) practice and created H&K, Ink, a Washington-based writers’ group.  McLean specialized in strategic communications, international affairs, media relations, media training and crisis management, and he frequently authored op-ed pieces, position papers, speeches, diplomatic communications and corporate strategy documents for Hill and Knowlton’s clients.
 
An executive search firm brought Mr. McLean to the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland in 2000, where he served as Director of Communications and Public Affairs.  His responsibilities included communications strategy and media relations as well as all external and internal communications.  At the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, and at the WEF’s special Annual Meeting 2002 in New York, Mr. McLean served as the World Economic Forum’s official spokesman. 

At Davos and in New York, Mr. McLean hosted lunches and dinners for top international journalists.  His guests at these events included government leaders and top corporate executives, including Kofi Annan, Bill Gates, John Chambers, Thabo Mbeki, Javier Solana, Alejandro Toledo, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, Qatar’s Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, George Soros, Lawrence Summers, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Supachai Panitchpakdi, and the late Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, among many others. 

Mr. McLean also directed communications on-site at the Forum’s regional meetings and summits in cities throughout the world, and helped set policy and direct strategy for the Foundation as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Board of Managing Directors.

Immediately prior to the creation of Borderless Communications, Charles McLean helped launch the European wing of NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway company.  As part of that effort, Mr. McLean organized a three-day conference for potential NetJets clients at Waddesdon Manor, Lord Rothschild’s estate in Buckhinghamshire, England.  Warren Buffett was the keynote speaker and host of the Waddesdon Conference.  Participants in the event included James Wolfensohn of the World Bank, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, actor (and future California Governor) Arnold Schwarzenegger, and rock musician Bono.

Charles McLean received his undergraduate degree in anthropology from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.  He received a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University. 

Promenade is a luxury publication dedicated to Manhattan’s most affluent visitors.  It combines elegant imagery, descriptive prose, and exclusive interviews and articles that introduce a sophisticated readership to the very best the City offers.   Promenade distributes 75,000 copies each quarter to over 85 of New York’s magnificent four-and-five-star hotels, as well as 300 select doorman residences, spas, jewelers, and fashion houses.  Promenade is a Davler Media Group publication.

Davler Media Group creates print and online publications that help New York visitors and residents make superior decisions about how to enjoy their discretionary time and money.  Our luxury market publication, Promenade magazine, introduce affluent NYC visitors to the City’s most exclusive shops, spas, restaurants, and cultural venues.  City Guide magazine, New York’s largest visitor market publication, is a digest-sized weekly that efficiently arms visitors with all the information they need to maximize their Big Apple experience.  City Guide Online, www.cityguideny.com, features web-exclusive content that provides them with a resource to plan their trips in advance. Our NYMetroParents division publishes monthly parenting titles—Big Apple Parent, Brooklyn Parent, Queens Parent, Westchester Parent, Rockland Parent, and Fairfield Parent—and the content-rich website www.NYMetroParents.com.  NYMetroParents print and online is the regional authority that parents turn to for the activities, calendars, local resources, and editorial guidance that help them manage their children’s lives.