Formation | 1974 |
---|---|
Type | Professional trade association |
Headquarters | New York City, United States |
Location |
|
Membership | 341 |
Official language | Multiple spoken by member guides |
President | Michael Morgenthal |
Key people | Beth Goffe (Vice President), Katherine Hill (Vice President), Sara Lyons (Treasurer), Leigh Hallingby (Secretary), Mitch Paluszek (Secretary) [1] |
Website | www |
GANYC (Guides Association of New York City) is the professional association of licensed New York City tour guides.
Established in 1974, it is one of the oldest tour guide associations in the United States. GANYC is a member of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations. [2] With a present count of approximately 371 members, GANYC represents nearly 10% of the guides licensed in New York City with an estimated 4,000 guides currently licensed by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. [3]
The organization's mission is provide continuing education about touring through a series of internal and external programs. It also advocates on behalf of New York tourism industry workers, such as in response to overtourism concerns at the Statue of Liberty in 2019 [4] [5] [6] or after tourism shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. [7] [8] [9] They have also worked with city agencies on behalf of better conditions for tourists, [10] including an ongoing legislative battle involving sightseeing bus guides. [11] It has also acted as an aid in finding government assistance for its constituents, such as after the September 11th attacks in 2001. [12]
The organization is run by an all-volunteer Executive Board, with elections occurring among its membership every two years.
GANYC was founded as the Multilingual Guides Association of New York City in 1974. In 1979, the organization changed its name to the Guides Association of New York City to better reflect its growing recognition outside of New York as the professional organization for tour guides in New York City. In 2012, GANYC began to hold its monthly meetings at various sites of historic and cultural significance and also introduced industry partner membership and strategic affiliations to more closely engage with businesses and organizations interested in supported tour guiding. Its membership provides tours in all five NYC boroughs and covers approximately 10% of all New York City sightseeing guide licensees. [13]
GANYC hosts an annual awards ceremony to honor the best in New York City culture, preservation and tourism in a dozen categories.
Previous hosts have included Tony award-winning broadway musical star Brian Stokes Mitchell, [14] cabaret performer Mark Nadler, and podcast hosts the Bowery Boys. [15]
Manhattan's Chinatown or simply Chinatown by the locals is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 100,000 people, Chinatown is home to the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Manhattan's Chinatown is also one of the oldest Chinese ethnic enclaves. The Manhattan Chinatown is one of nine Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City, as well as one of twelve in the New York metropolitan area, which contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017.
The Bowery is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north. The eponymous neighborhood runs roughly from the Bowery east to Allen Street and First Avenue, and from Canal Street north to Cooper Square/East Fourth Street. The neighborhood roughly overlaps with Little Australia. To the south is Chinatown, to the east are the Lower East Side and the East Village, and to the west are Little Italy and NoHo. It has historically been considered a part of the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises is a boat-based sightseeing and entertainment company in Manhattan, New York. Its principal business is operating guided tours of New York City from its base at Pier 83 in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.
Adventure Cycling Association is a nonprofit member organization focused on travel by bicycle. Headquartered in Missoula, Montana, Adventure Cycling develops cycling routes, publishes maps, provides guided trips, and advocates for better and safer cycling in the U.S. The organization grew from a mass cross-country bicycle ride in 1976 to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial. Adventure Cycling also publishes a magazine, Adventure Cyclist.
WFUV is a non–commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by Fordham University, with studios on its Bronx campus and its antenna atop nearby Montefiore Medical Center. WFUV first went on the air in 1947. It became a professional public radio station in 1990 and is one of three NPR member stations in New York City. Its on-air staff has included radio veterans Dennis Elsas, Vin Scelsa, Pete Fornatale, and Rita Houston.
A tour guide (U.S.) or a tourist guide (European) is a person who provides assistance, and information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized sightseeing and individual clients at educational establishments, religious and historical sites such as; museums, and at various venues of tourist attraction resorts. Tour guides also take clients on outdoor guided trips. These trips include hiking, whitewater rafting, mountaineering, alpine climbing, rock climbing, ski and snowboarding in the backcountry, fishing, and biking.
Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, is an American historian and non-fiction writer. He is best known for his research and writings on Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table.
New York City received a ninth consecutive annual record of approximately 65.2 million tourists in 2018, the busiest tourist city attraction, and one of the world's overall busiest tourist attractions, counting not just overnight visitors but anyone visiting for the day from over 50 miles away, including commuters. Overall the city welcomed 37.9 million visitors who stayed overnight in 2018, of whom 13.6 million were international. Major destinations include the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, Broadway theatre productions, Central Park, Times Square, Coney Island, the Financial District, museums, and sports stadiums. Other major visitor activities include luxury shopping along Fifth and Madison Avenues; entertainment events such as the Tribeca Film Festival; Randalls Island music festivals such as Governors Ball, Panorama and Electric Zoo; and free performances in Central Park at Summerstage and Delacorte Theater. Many New York City ethnic enclaves, such as Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Brighton Beach are major shopping destinations for first and second generation Americans.
The Liberty Landing Ferry, officially known as the Liberty Landing City Ferry, is a commuter ferry service based at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. It provides service between Liberty State Park and Liberty Harbor in Jersey City and the Battery Park City Ferry Terminal at Brookfield Place in Battery Park City, Manhattan. It is one of several private operators of ferries, sightseeing boats, and water taxis in the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Tourism in Namibia is a major industry, contributing N$7.2 billion to the country's gross domestic product. Annually, over one million travelers visit Namibia, with roughly one in three coming from South Africa, then Germany and finally the United Kingdom, Italy and France. The country is among the prime destinations in Africa and is known for ecotourism which features Namibia's extensive wildlife.
Circle Line Downtown is a sightseeing harbor cruise company that operates out of the South Street Seaport Pavilion Pier at the Financial District in Manhattan under Harbor Experience Companies.
Hornblower Cruises & Events NOW City Experiences, more commonly known simply as Hornblower is a San Francisco–based charter yacht, dining cruise and ferry service company.
The American Bus Association (ABA) is a trade association for motorcoach operators and tour companies in the United States and Canada. Its membership consists of about 1,000 companies that operate buses or bus-based tours, about 2,800 organizations representing the travel and tourism industry, and several hundred suppliers of buses and related products and services. Its headquarters is in Washington, D.C.
The Bowery Boys: New York City History is a travel and history podcast that was launched in June 2007 by Thomas Meyers and Gregory Young. Podcast episodes focus on the history of one person, place, or event in New York City history. As of December 2020, the Bowery Boys have produced 348 episodes.
The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a 25-acre (10 ha) public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling Green to the northeast, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. The park contains attractions such as an early 19th-century fort named Castle Clinton; multiple monuments; and the SeaGlass Carousel. The surrounding area, known as South Ferry, contains multiple ferry terminals, including the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal; a boat launch to the Statue of Liberty National Monument ; and a boat launch to Governors Island.
The 9/11 Tribute Museum, formerly known as the 9/11 Tribute Center and Tribute WTC, was a museum that shared the personal stories of family members who lost loved ones, survivors, rescue and recovery workers, volunteers and Lower Manhattan residents with those who want to learn about the September 11 attacks. It was located in the Financial District section of Manhattan in New York City, and offered walking tours and galleries with 9/11 artifacts and history before it transitioned to a solely online museum in August 2022.
Open Loop New York was a hop on hop off, open top double-decker bus, sightseeing tour company based in New York City. It was a subsidiary of the RATP Group.
Lee Peter Gelber was an American tour guide and urban historian whose primary expertise was New York City and its environs.
Tuff Sunshine is an American rock band based in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. The band is led by Johnny Leitera, who works with several backing musicians who join him onstage and on tour as well as in the studio. They include notable artists such as Linda Pitmon bassist Turner Stough and founding member Ani Cordero, among others. Drummer Ani Cordero was a founding member and left the band amicably in 2016 to pursue a solo career and still plays occasional shows with the band. Leitera and Tuff Sunshine have shared bills with such diverse artists as Tim Rogers/You Am I, John Doe, Jonathan Richman and The Dead Boys. Leitera also plays and tours as a solo musician and has played all over the United States, the UK and Australia.
Seeing New York was a New York City sightseeing tour company that operated electric omnibuses and boats in the early 20th century.