NEW YORK--Got one hour?
Through Labor Day, 60 minutes is all it will take to sample the
highlights at dozens of this city's top cultural institutions and
attractions under a citywide promotion dubbed Insider's Hour.
Designed with the busy business traveler, leisure tourist and
city resident in mind, the one-hour-long guided tours are available
at 41 museums, zoos, gardens and performing arts centers throughout
the five boroughs. Under the program, each participating venue
showcases a collection or feature chosen to give visitors the most
cultural value for their 60-minute visit.
The promotion marks the first time the New York Convention and
Visitors Bureau and the city's cultural institutions have joined
forces to promote the city's cultural industry, according to the
bureau.
"Without a doubt, in terms of quality and quantity, New York
City is home to the world's best and most diverse cultural
attractions," said Fran Reiter, the bureau's president and chief
executive officer.
"Visitors may not feel they have enough time to see them all.
The Insider's Hour enables them to make the most of their time here
in New York."
Cultural tourism is big business in the city, with 70% of
international visitors and 40% of domestic visitors last year
participating in some sort of cultural activity, according to the
bureau.
In order to participate in the promotion, some institutions that
previously didn't offer tours had to create them, and others had to
revamp tours to fit the one-hour format.
The Insider's Hour tours are being promoted in full-page ads in
the New York Times and in the magazines Museums New York and City
Guide. In addition, the bureau has produced 150,000 Insider's Hour
brochures for distribution in hotels and attractions throughout the
five boroughs.
Schedules vary for the tours, and the institution's regular
admission price is often all it takes to participate.
For a complete list of participating cultural attractions, send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Insider's Hour, NYCVB, 810
Seventh Ave. 3rd Floor, New York 10019.
Details of the promotion also are available on the NYCVB's Web
site, at www.nycvisit.com.
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Following are some of the tours available in the Insider's Hour
program.
Get an inside look at film and television production at the
American Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
Join a docent-led search through summer gardens at the New York
Botanical Garden in the Bronx.
Tour the theaters of Lincoln Center, going behind the scenes to
see rehearsals.
Walk back in time at Historic Richmond Town on Staten
Island.
Take a wildlife walking tour to view some of the world's most
endangered species at the Bronx Zoo.
Experience old New York and the financial district with a
Fortunes and Finance tour of Trinity churchyard, Federal Hall,
Liberty Street and the Bank of New York conducted by Heritage
Trails New York.
See some of the world's best permanent collections and
temporary exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum
of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum, among others.