With the closing of museums, Broadway theaters and restaurants, the coronavirus pandemic has slammed NYC’s tourism industry. Major tourist destinations such as Times Square and Chinatown are no longer packed with cars and tourists. Airports and subway  stations  are empty. .

The White House’s coronavirus response coordinator said that the virus “attack rate” in the New York area was five times that in other areas. New York State saw an increase of more than 4,000 confirmed cases since Sunday night, putting the total at 20,909 as of Monday afternoon.

One of the most popular attractions for tourists – the staircase located at Times Square is almost empty because of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo by Shiyu Xu.

As one of the last costumed characters at Times Square, the man dressed up as the Statue of Liberty stands still even though there are few  tourists to take pictures with him. Photo by Shiyu Xu.

Gift shops near Times Square are empty. Photo by Shiyu Xu.

A musician sings in  an empty  23rd street subway station. Photo by Shiyu Xu.

A Chinese woman sits alone on a nearly empty subway car with a mask in NYC. Photo by Shiyu Xu.

An old man walks around in Chinatown with a mask on. As one of the most popular tourism attractions, NYC’s Chinatown is now in sleep mode. Shops and restaurants are closed. Photo by Shiyu Xu.

Hung Lee Co. is one of the few grocery stories that remain open in NYC’s Chinatown under the coronavirus pandemic. Photo by Shiyu Xu.

Empty luggage carousels  in the departure level at Newark Liberty International Airport . Photo by Shiyu Xu.

The departure level at Newark Liberty International Airport has been nearly empty since coronavirus hit the area. Photo by Shiyu Xu.

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And every business that deals with tourism are on the front lines of  the fight.

Fortaleza Suites in Old San Juan will not allow guests to put their belongings at the front desk. 

“We ask guests to have their IDs and wallets ready when they check in,” said Elizabeth Nolasco, 24, a receptionist at Fortaleza Suites. “We don’t let people take out their stuff and put it on the front desk while they search in their bag. If they need to open their bags, we ask them to do it outside.”

The hotel staff said they work for tourism, but they can’t sustain their business if the virus overwhelms the island. 

“This is more dangerous than the earthquake and Hurricane Maria,” said a hotel housekeeper as she scrubbed the floor on her hands and knees. 

La Fortaza Suites is a hotel in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Photo by Shanila Kabir

The Dreamcatcher Hotel in San Juan changed their hospitality services to keep their employees and guests safe. 

“We used to have a communal space with lotion and sunscreen for our guests and we will never offer these services again,” said Andrea Otero, 24, manager of the Dreamcatcher Hotel. “We have improved our health measures on everything. The housekeepers work longer hours and we restock towels and kitchen supplies more often instead of reusing them.”

According to NBC News, three out of the five confirmed cases on the island were tourists.

“The virus will make its first steps here in a hotel,” said Otero. “People who are infected interact with other guests and the locals.”

She said the host position at the hotel has been discontinued.

“Our goal right now is to limit those numbers,” she said.

Jordan Acosta, 23, the chef at the Dreamcatcher who runs their vegetarian/vegan restaurant  created a new menu to try and strengthen the guests immune system. 

“Health precautions and dietary changes are two ways our hotel is combatting this,” said Acosta. “I only prepare meals that will boost people’s immune systems. In case one of our guests has the disease, the ginger and coconut in my food will make she/he healthier faster and that can save hundreds of lives.”

The Dreamcatcher Hotel has a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. Their new menu aims to boost guests immune system during the coronavirus outbreak. Photo by Shanila Kabir

Restaurant workers at Cueva Del Mar are requiring customers to sanitize their hands at the host’s table before being seated. 

“We sanitize everything, if it is not molded down, we deep clean it,” said Luis Sanchez-Longo, 24, a server at Cueva Del Mar “We used to have ketchup bottles at the table and now we serve sauces in small plastic cups. Small sanitation methods will make a difference. We even wash our menus before and after they’re used.”

Uber drivers are also taking precautions. Recently Uber  suspended its pool service.  Drivers are also  limiting contact with riders. 

“I don’t help anyone with their luggage,” said Goma Alberino, 27, an Uber driver. “I disinfect my car after each stop and ask passengers to grab one of my sanitizing wipes before getting in.”

Alberino has even declined giving rides to passengers that look sick.

“The slightest cough makes me turn down rides,” said Alberino. “I can’t take the risk of driving a sick person to an area with a sensitive population. This is a responsibility of anyone working during this time.”

There are about 200,000 cases of Coronavirus globally and  close to  8,000 deaths.

There are 17 potential cases of Covid-19 on the island.

Governor Wanda Vazquez implemented a 9 to 5 curfew Sunday and a two-week shutdown of most businesses until March 30. 

“This is bigger than me and my job, said John Santana, 25, a bartender at Acapulco Mexican Restaurant. “I know many people who are still recovering from the earthquake and now they have to worry about this new disease. I can go without money for two weeks if it means I’m helping anyone who needs to be protected.” 

Puerto Rico will survive this, he said.

“There will be always be visitors here. This is paradise,” said Santana. “But we have to do what it takes to make sure we are safe living in paradise.”

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For many brides-to-be, finding the perfect wedding dress can be daunting. So it’s nothing short of jovial, with a matching sigh of relief, when they finally find “The Gown.”

In the case of Aliya Chandia-Lakhani, she felt triumphant when she found multiple wedding outfits while on tour in New York City

It was quite a fashion fairy tale for the Dubai-based corporate executive. She just got engaged and when she came to the city, she found herself in a shopping tour organized by Karen Parker O’Brien, the president of Style Room NYC Shopping Tour Experiences.

“At that time, I really had no intention of buying a wedding gown,” said Chandia-Lakhani. “But during the shopping tour, Karen introduced me to this wonderful dress designer who had the most beautiful evening and wedding gowns. We just bought clothes on the spot!”

And in fashion, that’s one sweet story that retail therapies are made of, as Parker O’Brien can attest to.

As a New Yorker and having been in an industry insider for more than 20 years, Parker O’Brien knows how vital fashion is to NYC’s business system.

Shopping and tourism, as  O’Brien put it, help drive the city’s economy. Her idea of organizing shopping tours seemed like a feasible business idea.

“Shopping tours have been around since I was a child,” said O’Brien. “So when I entertained the idea of professionally doing one myself four years ago, I decided to make it more customized, where I would take people to all these private designer showrooms and where it’s more intimate and fun to shop. When I talked to some people about it, they wanted to do it and after a week, I organized my very first tour and it just took off from there.”

Fashion’s ephemeral nature makes it a tricky industry, especially for designers who have to tread the thin line between personal creativity and what customers and retailers actually need and want. But a constant theme in this business is how lucrative it is.

Globally, fashion is worth US$1.2 trillion , and NYC is considered as one of its major capitals, along with London, Milan, and Paris.

From a business perspective, the city’s fashion subculture alone is responsible for employing more than 180,000 people, or 6 percent of the city’s overall workforce, with tax revenues accounting to US$2 billion. Latest statistics  reveal that there are around 900 international fashion companies are based here, and NYC is also the home to more than 75 trade shows and thousands of showrooms, both from established and emerging fashion designers.

“New York City is like the center of the world,” said O’Brien. “And when people come here to visit, they shop.”

Now, imagine what tourists—excluding locals and expats—can do to every cash register placed throughout NYC.

Last year, the office of incumbent mayor Bill de Blasio announced  that NYC reached an “all-time record” of accommodating 56.4 million visitors in 2014, translating into an overall economic impact of US$61.3 billion.

“I think people are drawn to New York City because it’s an exciting place,” said Jim Dykes, a friend of O’Brien’s and the president of his own tour company, Abuzz Around New York. “Today, tourists are more knowledgeable on what they want to see—and experience—in this city.”

The thriving tourism industry has a more parallel relationship now with fashion and style. Shopping tours like Style Room are pivotal in nurturing this symbiotic partnership.

“Visitors in New York City still like to eat and shop,” said Dykes. “They say that there are a lot of unique spots in this city that are not available elsewhere. Thanks to the internet, for example, more people have become more aware that New York City is a big fashion capital—but knowing who to call for the right places to visit is another thing, and that’s what Karen does for her clients.”

So how does it work? For  O’Brien, it’s all about a sense of mystery, if only to pique a visitor’s otherwise info-overloaded mindset.

For starters,  O’Brien doesn’t advertise the designers and brands that she works with. Instead, she gets to know her prospective clients beforehand first, like what they usually wear and how they build their wardrobe based on their size and lifestyle. She then tailors a tour plan for them, which involves deciding which designers can cater to them best. Her clients only discover who they’re going to visit—and shop from—on the tour day itself.

This system, as O’Brien explained, also protects the designers’ privacy, mostly because they also have separate arrangements with other mainstream retailers that can’t be publicly disclosed—and so far, tourists have been okay with the setup.

“I’ve had clients who ask me if we’ll go to somewhere like Chanel or Prada,” she said. “My answer is no, because I take them to American designers who are based here in New York City and I think they like it because they get access to unique, good quality merchandise and have bragging rights like, ‘Hey, I got this from a New York City designer!’”

For O’Brien, the best is yet to come for fashion and tourism as a whole, as New York City further encourages designers to pursue and manufacture their business and goods here (http://www.nycedc.com/program/made-ny-initiative).

“It’s been really fun bringing visitors and letting them interact with the designers I work with,” she said. “Of course, they’re talking about fashion but the next thing you know, they’ll be asking them for recommendations on where to dine out as well or what other activities to do in the city, too. It makes the whole experience more personal and they [tourists] get to fall in love with the city more.”

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Crowds waited to visit the reopened Statue of Liberty on Sunday through New York State funding. Photo by Lea Bouchoucha

National Park Service workers at the Statue of Liberty were called back to work on Sunday morning as the Statue of Liberty reopened its doors to visitors.

They had been sent home for 12 days as a result of the first partial government shutdown in more than a decade. New York State agreed to shoulder the costs of running the site for a period of six days from October 12 through October 17. The states of Arizona, Colorado, North Dakota and Utah, also took on for the cost of their respective national park operations.

David Cespedes, 31, returned to work on Liberty Island on Sunday after 12 days out of work due to the government shut down.  Photo by Lea Bouchoucha

David Cespedes, 31, a park service worker, received a call from his supervisor on Saturday asking him to return to work the next day.

“I am personally worried because I have kids, family, rent and bills to pay,” said Cespedes who lives in Woodside, Queens. He is also studying criminal justice at Berkeley College.

Cespedes did not get paid in full for the time he was off work. Friday, he received only a partial payment of 40 hours.

“My family was shocked because for me it is the first time that this [a government shutdown] happens,” he said. Cespedes came to the U.S. in 1994 from the Dominican Republic. He has been working at the Statue of Liberty for four years.

Since the start of government shutdown on Oct.1^st, about 800,000 federal workers like Cespedes have been sent home.

“They [the Government] are losing money and people need to work and to support their family, ” said Cespedes.

According to figures compiled by the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, more than 7 million Americans were kept out of the parks during the first 10 days of the shutdown.

But Sunday morning in Battery Park, hundreds of tourists lined up to be among the first to see Lady Liberty. Marc Grenier from Quebec, Canada said he felt very glad when he found the Statue Of Liberty reopened. The 305-foot-tall monument is one of New York City’s most popular tourist attractions.

Joel Kukuh, 21, studies criminal law and works part time for the Parks Department. He also returned to work on Liberty Island on Sunday, with NY State funding. Photo by Lea Bouchoucha

Joel Kukuh, 21, is also a parks department employee.

“A lot of people showed up today,”said Kukuh. I guess they must have heard the news around the city. It is good to have people here because it makes you feel proud.”

Kukuh received less than half of his regular salary because of the shutdown.

New York State has paid for six days, about $61,600 a day, to reopen Liberty Island National Park.

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