New travel trade show aims to promote small business in Brooklyn

Ready for a side of Brooklyn you’ve never seen before?

A unique perspective on tourism, featuring 28 small businesses from Brooklyn, culminated in the city’s first-ever travel tradeshow called Discover More NYC on Tuesday, June 7.

Organized by NYC & Company, New York City’s official destination marketing organization, the inaugural show, held at the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel, introduced small businesses from each borough to travel professionals, tour operators and destination management companies.

“More than ever, visitors want to experience New York City like locals. And NYC & Company wants all five boroughs to feel the positive impact of visitor spending,” said Fred Dixon, president and CEO of NYC & Company. “We recognized that many local businesses weren’t sure how to make the most of tourism and developed this initiative to empower them. As a result, approximately 100 of New York City’s authentic, local businesses are ready to welcome group travelers for the first time.”

According to NYC & Company, through its Tourism Ready initiative – a year-long program geared toward increasing visitation to off-the-beaten-path parts of the city – tourism committees were established in every borough. Business and attractions were then invited to join the committee at no cost and participate in monthly meetings and consultations where they learned methods to market themselves to travel professionals.

“Tourism is a vital component of Brooklyn’s growing economy, and the Chamber has worked tirelessly to ensure that visitors to the borough spend their money here, patronizing our restaurants, shops and cultural institutions,” said Carlo Scissura, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “Discover More NYC is a tremendous program that will promote Brooklyn’s best attractions and hidden gems, thus improving tourists’ experiences and increasing the bottom lines of our businesses.”

“I’m proud to work alongside NYC & Company to get Brooklyn’s small businesses ‘Tourism Ready,’ and Discover More NYC is a valuable way for them to get meaningful exposure and access to stakeholders in the travel industry, which can translate to more visitors exploring the unexplored corners of our borough,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. “In the years ahead, I look forward to encouraging more mom and pop operations and neighborhood gems to take advantage of the opportunities [in] our city.”

While Discover More NYC featured a variety of over 100 small businesses from each borough, the 28 from Brooklyn include: A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours, Atlantic Avenue BID, Big Onion Walking Tours, BQE Tours: The Brooklyn Queens Experience, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, Brooklyn Treasures Uncovered, Brooklyn Unplugged Tours, Brooklyn Winery, Brownstone JAZZ, Carnem Prime Steakhouse, Chris Limo USA, Downtown New York Tours, Get Up and Ride, Gotham SideWalks, Green-Wood Cemetery, Like A Local Tours, New York Like A Native, NU Hotel Brooklyn, Red Lion Inn & Suites Brooklyn/Holiday Inn Express Brooklyn, The Levys’ Unique New York!, Turnstile Tours, Urban Oyster Tours and Wyndham Garden Brooklyn Sunset Park.

“As a company that works with a lot of sites that have not been on the traditional tourists’ itinerary – for example, historic military sites turned industrial parks, like the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Brooklyn Army Terminal – the Tourism Ready Initiative provided us with valuable resources to help us reach the right customer for our experiences,” said Cindy VandenBosch, founder and president of Turnstile Tours, one of Discover More NYC’s participating small businesses. “By bringing more visitors to these corners of Brooklyn, we hope to not only drive more business to neighborhood companies, but also showcase the diversity of New York City’s economy and the important role of industry and manufacturing.”