Arun Govada, belonging to an Indian descent, will take charge as the organization’s new Director, Tourism Development – Asia-Pacific, NYC & Company has recently announced. In his new role, he will be responsible for driving leisure, educational, and special interest travel to New York City’s five boroughs from key visitor markets including China, India, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. He would be reporting to Makiko Matsuda Healy, Managing Director, Tourism Market Development and works alongside the organization’s travel trade representatives throughout Asia.
In his previous stints, Govada has the experience of working in business strategy and development, project management, marketing, hospitality and entrepreneurship in organizations in Asia and the United States. In his most recent assignment, he worked at the planning and design firm UDP International, as well as, IBM Corporation.
“It is an honor to represent one of the greatest destinations in the world in my new role at NYC & Company. I am eager to work with members of the travel trade to show why New York City should be top of the list for Asian travellers, with so many iconic sites and new five-borough developments to experience on their next NYC visit,” said Arun Govada.
Makiko Matsuda Healy, Managing Director, Tourism Market Development welcomed Arun Govada in his new role and said “it is a pleasure to welcome Arun to the Tourism Market Development team, bringing his extensive experience in business development in a variety of industry sectors both in the United States and Asia to the role. We are eager to leverage his diverse background to build on our collective goal to further elevate destination awareness in this key emerging and specialty marketplace.”
Last year, New York City welcomed a record 62.8 million travelers, comprising 49.7 million domestic and 13.1 million international visitors, including an estimated 2.373 million travelers from the key source markets.
