New York Kicks-Off Third Annual Winter Outing

The third annual New York City Winter Outing is officially underway.

New York City’s new mayor Eric Adams, along with NYC & Company’s Fred Dixon, Empire State Realty Trust’s Anthony E. Malkin, and cast members for a number of Broadway plays including Aladdin and Chicago, were all on-hand at the Empire State Building on Tuesday to kick-off the Winter Outing’s 2022 edition.

“Tourism is the heart and soul of our city,” Adams said on Tuesday. “Why would you want to go anywhere else except New York City?”

The goal of the program is to help continue New York’s post-pandemic recovery by getting people to come back out to the city, whether it’s locals looking to explore another borough, or domestic travelers hoping to have an extended New York vacation or international travelers who have put their plans on hold because of COVID.

“It’s a way of energizing New Yorkers to come back out,” Adams added.

The term “Winter Outing” is an umbrella term for the combination of four different programs that the City is running simultaneously starting on Tuesday:

• NYC Restaurant Week: hundreds of restaurants across the five boroughs will be offering prix-fixe menus for a limited time ranging from two- to three-course meals for either $29, $39, or $59 (runs through Feb. 13).
• NYC Broadway Week: Broadways shows across the city will be offering 2-for-1 tickets including Chicago, Tina, Lion King, Book of Mormon, and more (runs through Feb. 13).
• NYC Must-See Week: a number of attractions, including the Empire State Building Observatory, the Big Apple Circus, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, Top of the Rock Observation, and more, will be offering 2-for-1 tickets (runs through Feb. 13).
• NYC Hotel Week: the newest addition to NYC’s Winter Outing, with hotels throughout the city offering 22% stays (runs through Feb. 13).

In total, the Winter Outing offers deals at more than 500 restaurants, tickets to 17 Broadway shows and more than 45 museums; and the hotel discount at almost 130 properties across the city.

There are not many other industries as important to New York as tourism and hospitality—according to NYC & Company, in 2019 over 400,000 jobs and $72.2 billion were created in the city as a result of those industries. While those numbers suffered over the last two years because of the pandemic, New York was able to draw domestic travelers, a cohort that Adams tipped his hat to on Tuesday, to help make up for some of that drop recently.

“It shows what we can do when we come out,” Adams said. “This is the city to be in.”