Dec 16

Dec 16 Tourist Attractions in New York: Reinventing The Wheel

[All photos via The New York Wheel] — *[All photos via* The New York Wheel]

By Laura D., CMO at TheWelcomeHUB (USAWelcome LLC.)

How about a 38-minute ride on a Ferris Wheel 630-foot tall (192 meters)? I mean, it is a HUGE Ferris Wheel, absolutely enormous. Like just the sight of it would already make your stomach feel queasy and you swallow hard.

That is exactly what New York residents and tourists will see and experience in 2017 in Staten Island, just a 10-minute ferryboat free ride from Battery Park, in Manhattan.

Staten Island's very own version of the London Eye, the New York Wheel, is going to be so lucrative as a tourist destination, its developers say, that it will even surpass the Empire State Building in terms of revenue, The Real Deal reports.

The developers of the Wheel will try to attract four million customers its first year, and 3.5 million tourists each year after that. Empire State in comparison draws 4.3 million visitors annually.

Riders on the Wheel will also have to fork out just a little bit more for the expansive views - tickets are priced at $35 a head compared to $32 to go to the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban planning at New York University who said he was not familiar with the projections, said no one should underestimate the potential interest in the wheel.

“It used to be, when you got to Staten Island on the ferry, there was nothing for people to do,” he said. “Now there’s going to be the wheel as well as stores for people to go to. This is not just another observation deck – it’s an experience.”

“It used to be, when you got to Staten Island on the ferry, there was nothing for people to do,” he said. “Now there’s going to be the wheel as well as stores for people to go to. This is not just another observation deck – it’s an experience.”

— Mitchel Moss – Professor of Urban Planning at NYU - New York University