http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/28...extra_3432.php
3.3 Million Were Expected at Trade Center Attraction; a Million Haven’t Shown Up
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
MAY 27, 2016
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When the observatory complex opened last year on the top three floors of the new Lower Manhattan building, its operator, Legends, predicted that it would draw 3.3 million visitors annually.
That was optimistic by a million.
This week, the video wall in the Global Welcome Center, which displays a running tally of visitors, put the total number at just 2.3 million since the observatory opened on May 29, 2015.
..With the standard ticket price set at $32, the shortfall in attendance is significant for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the building, together with the Durst Organization. The authority, which has spent tens of billions of dollars rebuilding the trade center, hoped the observatory would be a major revenue generator.
..Legends and the authority insist that the observatory is a success, although they both refuse to release any rent or revenue numbers for the publicly owned property, citing a confidentiality agreement. They say the observatory hit its numbers for 2015.
“Between revenue numbers and customer reviews, we couldn’t be more happy,” said Shervin Mirhashemi, president of Legends, which is owned by the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys. “We look at our attraction as a premium experience.”
Still, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum attracted 2.9 million visitors over the past year, 600,000 more than One World Observatory.
Observatories have become a 21st-century craze, inspired in part by the profit-making operation at one of the world’s biggest tourist attractions: the Empire State Building, whose two observatories are a veritable cash machine, drawing more than 4 million tourists annually and producing nearly 40 percent of the tower’s total revenue in 2015 and $82 million in cash after expenses.
Top of the Rock, the observation deck at Rockefeller Center, lures 2 million visitors a year.
Both attractions raised their prices to match One World Observatory’s when that venue opened.
...Mr. Mirhashemi said that Legends was still building its business at the trade center. He said the company expected to draw 2.5 million tourists in 2016, and eventually, more than 3 million annually.
In explaining the slowdown so far this year, Mr. Mirhashemi said that tourism typically dipped between January and May but came roaring back in the summer.
But in the first quarter of 2016, the Empire State Building’s observatories saw a 15.6 percent increase in attendance over the same period a year earlier, according to S.E.C. filings.
...Barry Tenenbaum, president of New York City Vacation Packages, a tourism company, said the observatory’s problems might be rooted in Legends’ failure to court tour operators, which often buy tickets in bulk, at a significant discount.
Tourists from other countries often purchase a package with tickets from museums and other attractions before they land in New York. The standard package for Mr. Tenenbaum’s company includes admission to either the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock, but not to One World Observatory.
“Legends really doesn’t have a lot of experience in the tourism market,” Mr. Tenenbaum said. “I would like to think that’s why their volume is not up to snuff. I think they’re going after the corporate market as much as the tourist market.”
Mr. Mirhashemi said that Legends was working with tour operators, “but on a very selective basis.”
Soon visitors will have even more choices. On the West Side of Manhattan, a new competitor at 30 Hudson Yards, which claims it will have the highest outdoor deck, on the 89th floor, is scheduled to open in 2019, with another at 1 Vanderbilt, next to Grand Central Terminal, to follow.
Analysts have wondered how many observatories are too many in New York.
But some people think the sky is the limit. “The city could definitely accommodate three, if not more, observatories,” said Andrew Luan, owner of New York Tour1, a guided-tour operator.
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