TORONTO — Air Canada has launched a new seat sale from Toronto to New York City to celebrate a newly announced partnership between Tourism Toronto and NYC & Company.
The sale includes fares from New York City to Toronto starting from US$87 one-way, and from Toronto to New York from Can$155 one-way, for travel until Feb. 15, 2018 if booked by Oct. 23. Air Canada offers the most service between the two cities, with a total of up to 21 return flights a day to LaGuardia and Newark airports.
“Air Canada is delighted to join Tourism Toronto and NYC & Company in this exciting partnership. It is a creative collaboration that will drive tremendous value to each of the partners and something we will celebrate with customers through compelling promotional fares,” said Duncan Bureau, Vice President, Global Sales at Air Canada.
The two-year alliance between the two destinations is the first ever city-to-city tourism partnership of its kind for Toronto, and the first Canadian partnership for NYC & Company. It includes a swap of marketing and advertising assets to influence seasonal travel; both cities will exchange $500,000 in assets to promote the other destination in their respective city.
In Toronto, New York City advertisements will run beginning the third week of November until February 2018, while in New York City, ads for Toronto will appear on bus stop shelters across all five boroughs beginning Oct. 23 for eight weeks.
“This is Toronto’s first city-to-city partnership, and New York City makes the ideal partner. Toronto and New York City are the financial, entertainment and cultural centres of our two nations and this partnership goes a long way to share our big-city experiences with each other’s residents and visitors. Both cities are similarly built upon diversity and inclusion and we are proud to showcase that sense of welcome to the world together,” said Johanne Bélanger, Tourism Toronto President.
NYC & Company President and CEO Fred Dixon added: “Today, we are proud to sign a first-ever partnership with Toronto, our fantastic neighbors to the North. New York City and Toronto share so much in common and both cities wholeheartedly embrace their diversity and multicultural dynamism, positioning both destinations as attractive and welcoming hubs for global travel. We look forward to cultivating our city-to-city collaboration with Toronto over the next two years and using the expanded relationship to boost more travel between Toronto and New York City.”
Canada is New York City’s third largest source of international visitation—last year, the city welcomed 928,000 visitors. In 2017, that number is projected to grow to 938,000. Toronto is the largest source market of visitation from Canada to NYC.
In 2016, Toronto welcomed 2.8 million American visitors – the eighth consecutive year of growth from the important U.S. market. New York State is the largest source market within the U.S. at 637,000 visitors and the greater New York City area accounts for approximately half of that total.
