• by Karl Greenberg , January 11, 2011

NYC & Company, the city's marketing, tourism and partnership organization, is attempting the impossible. Perhaps like Robert Falcon Scott's doomed attempt at the South Pole (which, by the way, was the theme of a recent exhibit at New York's American Museum of Natural History), the city is launching a campaign to bring more tourists to the gelid land of salt and slush that is New York City in winter.

The city is hoping the Great White Way (not just the snow), restaurants, culture and nightlife will warm things up a bit in the first quarter. It's a time of year when New York tourism takes a dip and most people are pining away for sun, beaches, pineapple-flavored cocktails in mugs shaped like Polynesian deities with umbrellas for swizzle sticks, sipped in poolside cabanas ... stop me if this sounds like you.

Not to be deterred, the organization is touting Broadway and Harlem among the attractions that warrant a trip to the apple frappe this winter. The group has some reason for optimism. After all, last year saw 48.7 million visitors to New York -- a record -- contributing $31 billion to the local economy, according to deputy mayor Robert Steel.

Steel and others, including actor Harvey Fierstein, revealed the campaigns at the R Hotel overlooking Times Square on Monday. Sponsors include American Express, AT&T, American Airlines, Travelocity, Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer, and Time Out New York.

One of the two major efforts will be an AT&T-sponsored program to get tourists to Harlem during February, which happens to be Black History Month. The idea, according to NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta, is to get them into local restaurants, museums and entertainment venues, not just onto tour buses.

"One of the top priorities of this administration has been promotion of different neighborhoods around the city," he said. The effort, "AT&T Destination Harlem," includes programs at the Apollo Theater, Dwyer Cultural Center, El Museo de Barrio, Harlem Stage, the Museum of the City of New York, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and The Studio Museum in Harlem.

"One issue is that Harlem is famous worldwide, and it already gets millions of visitors every year. They go on tours. We want them to get off of the buses and trains and enjoy the restaurants and nightlife and participate in what Harlem has to offer," said Fertitta. "We are trying to get people to spend more time there."

Also, for the first time, the organization is running a program called Broadway Week, offering two-for-one tickets to 18 musicals from Jan. 24 to Feb 10.

American Express is offering cardmembers triple Membership Rewards points from Jan. 24 to Feb. 28 at retailers, restaurants, and entertainment venues. AT&T is sponsoring "AT&T Broadway Week Sweepstakes," dangling Broadway tickets for a year. American Airlines is sponsoring a "Get More NYC American Airlines Sweepstakes," the winner of which gets a weekend for two in New York, including meals at db Bistro Moderne, entertainment, and first-class, round-trip tickets and AA amenities.

Travelocity and American Express are sponsors of NYC Restaurant Week, which is in its 19th year. The program, which takes place the week of Jan. 24, involves 300 restaurants and offers three-course prix-fixe lunches for $24.07 and three-course prix-fixe dinners for $35.