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GRAY LINE, the global sightseeing tours company, is offering an unprecedented package deal to keep its excursions filled.
The Gray Line's two-day hop-on/hop-off sightseeing tour o Manhattan now includes a cruise on the Hudson River, a tour of Staten Island and even an opportunity to meet a Broadway performer for an hour - all for $49.
A decline in patronage "got our attention," says marketing director Mike Alvich. "So we had to decide to add this value throughout the season."
The city's tourism sector, which has ridden a boom in visitors to three years of prosperity, is no scrambling to find ways to bolster its business. Special deals are the operative words as hotel executives, restaurateurs and others keep their fingers crossed that the economy crisis will mean only small declines in business.
City officials are looking on the bright side. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced late last year that a record 47 million tourists came to New York in 2008, 1 million more than in the year before. Spending was estimated at $30 billion, fueled in no small part by 9.8 million visitors from abroad.
However, officials are ignoring a sharp decline that occurred at the end of the year.
Hotel occupancy in the city...