NEW YORK -- "The Gates" was "a daring labor of love," Mayor Michael Bloomberg says, and the 7,503 pieces of saffron fabric being dismantled this week in Central Park leave a financial imprint: $254 million generated by visitors.
The art, by Christo and wife Jeanne-Claude, drew 4 million visitors to the park, including 1.5 million out-of-towners, Feb. 12-27. The same period in a typical February usually sees 750,000 visitors.
There were 300,000 international guests, representing a 20 percent increase, officials said. In midtown, hotel occupancy was 87 percent, compared with 73 percent last February.
The artists picked up the entire tab for the construction and dismantling of the exhibition, financing the project with sales of their drawings and other works.
The $254 million in economic activity -- more than triple the $80 million pre-exhibit estimate -- includes spending for hotels, restaurants and concessions and cultural institutions, as well as use of subways, buses and taxis, plus shopping and general entertainment. It does not include revenue from visitors who were here on business and would have spent money anyway.
