Following Free Fan Events Announcement, Hotels Ask for City Support to Maximize World Cup Economic Impact

NEW YORK, NY (04/27/2026) (readMedia)-- Today, Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul announced that the City will host free World Cup watch parties for fans in designated zones, particularly in the outer boroughs, to incentivize visitors to support small businesses nearby. But New York hotels warned that bookings are down for the six-week-long event and far from meeting economic projections, which could have devastating consequences for the $79 billion tourism economy and the nearly 400,000 city workers who depend on it.

Recent reports have shown bookings for the tournament period are lagging behind last year's levels, and FIFA is already starting to drop its hotel room blocks because of lower than expected demand-all of which disproportionately impact small hotel owners and the other small businesses in the outer boroughs who would attend the fan zones announced today.

Bookings are down due to reduced demand and a weakened city hotel industry that has lost 20,000 hotel rooms and thousands of jobs since COVID because of rising costs, tariffs, and a prolonged tourism slowdown. The hotel workers' union has also raised the specter of a strike during World Cup, which may be reducing demand further in the city already and would further reduce tourism-driven revenue if undertaken.

In response to the announcement, Vijay Dandapani, CEO and president of the Hotel Association of New York (HANYC) released the following statement:

"If we want visitors to patronize local small businesses and support workers across the city, they must have every opportunity to stay in nearby hotels that are the backbone of our tourism economy. The City's efforts to ensure the World Cup's economic benefits are more equitably shared with local small businesses are commendable. But they must be paired with policies that ease pressure on hotels and the hundreds-of-thousands of workers they support-not add to it. This includes smaller hotels in the outer boroughs, many near the sites of the free World Cup fan events, with the most to gain from any boosts in visitation."