NYC & Company has announced Arun Govada as the organization’s new Director, Tourism Development – Asia-Pacific. In his new role, he is 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. Govada reports to Makiko Matsuda Healy, Managing Director, Tourism Market Development and works alongside the organization’s travel trade representatives throughout Asia.
Speaking on his appointment Makiko Matsuda Healy, Managing Director, Tourism Market Development said: “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. He comes with his extensive experience in business development in a variety of industry sectors both in the United States and Asia to the role. “
Proficient in Mandarin, Cantonese, Telugu, Hindi and English, Govada has experience working in business strategy and development, project management, marketing, hospitality and entrepreneurship in organizations in Asia and the United States.
Of Indian descent, Govada grew up in Hong Kong and will be relocating to New York City this fall. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.
On his appointment Govada said: “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 travelers, with so many iconic sites and new five-borough developments to experience on their next NYC visit.”
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 markets referenced above.
