• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 9, 2009

In an effort to better promote local commerce and tourism in a down economy, New York City has relaunched NYCGo.com, its online face to the world.

NYC & Company--the city's marketing, tourism and partnership organization--commissioned digital design firm Huge Inc. to more vividly reflect the city's leadership in the areas of entertainment, culture, design, and spectacle.

"The global financial crisis and U.S. recession notwithstanding, NYCGo.com is a well-funded official information source for New York City," said a Huge spokesperson.

Along with increasingly cash-strapped locals and visitors, the information service is fighting an uphill battle in a highly competitive media market filled with the likes of NYMag, CitySearch, and TimeOutNY.

NYCGo employs a team of editors who are expected to stay on top of the best restaurants, clubs, bars, and attractions--with users rating and reviewing properties thorough out the city.

"The Web sites of other cities--London, Miami, San Francisco, Las Vegas--have broader, sales-oriented voices," said the spokesperson. "NYCGo's content is more community-based, current, insider, niche."

On the new NYCGo.com, local NYC celebrities also offer their top picks--many of them by video--for everything from dining and shopping to arts & entertainment in the Just Ask The Locals section. They include chef Mario Batali, actress Cynthia Nixon, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, actor Kevin Bacon, rock star Deborah Harry, Today Show host Matt Lauer and entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs.

User can also SMS text events going on in the city to their cell phone from the Web site.

Founded in 1999, Huge has more than 130 employees across four offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and London. Last summer, The Interpublic Group reached agreement to acquire a strategic interest in Huge. Terms of the transaction were not released.