New York to Get Billion-Dollar Gay-Wedding Boost

New York City is one of the places the boyfriend and I visit yearly - typically in September when Hampton holds its "Hampton Bay Days" weekend festival and he needs to close the salon down for four days due to crowds and blocked off streets. This year, we have another reason to look on New York fondly: we can get married there if we so desire and can pretend while we are there that we are almost full U.S. citizens. We are hardly alone in making the trip from Virginia and with gay marriage soon to be legal, estimates indicate that New York State can expect a huge financial windfall as out of state LGBT couples travel to New York to get married. The result, of course, is a net financial drain from their bigoted and backward home states. Perhaps as much as billion dollars flowing to New York and out of states like Virgina. Bigotry does indeed carry a financial price. Here are highlights from a Daily Beast article that looks at the likely financial gain coming to New York:
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There’s never been a better time to be a wedding planner in New York. Aside from the social or political impact of the state legalizing gay marriage late last week, the rise in weddings will offer an unprecedented boost to the bottom line of every business involved in the wedding industry. More weddings mean more business for hotels, reception venues, caterers, airlines, bakeries, and boutiques.
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Considering New York City’s ingrained tourism appeal, the state’s most populated city is certain to become a destination for thousands of American same-sex couples wanting to wed. “Of course there will be a rush of City Hall weddings,” says Roney, “creating a mini gay Vegas.” The city’s official tourism arm, NYC & Co. is already developing a global marketing campaign to encourage tourists to say “I Do” in the Big Apple.
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So how much will this mean for the Empire State? Officially, a report from the Independent Economic Conference projected that same-sex unions would generate about $284 million in additional wedding revenue and tourism and put another $27 million in taxes and license fees into the state’s coffers over the next three years.
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But these figures are—intentionally—very conservative, using an average spend of $4,000 per wedding. Given that the average wedding in New York City costs about $70,000, while national average spend is closer to $30,000, according to The Knot, the impact is likely to be far, far bigger. Using the IDC’s estimate of 66,000 couples to marry in the next three years, that means at least $2 billion will be spent on same-sex weddings. Add in the amount spent on wedding rings and on gifts from guests, and the total injected income will average nearly $1 billion a year for the next few years.
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[T]he added dollars from tourism are enough to create and sustain more than 2,000 additional jobs, according to The Williams Institute.
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Of course, just as there are lots of local winners, there are more losers (from an economic standpoint). As thousands of couples descend on the Empire State to say their vows, their home states are missing out on the millions they spend. It seems even in marriage, there’s a first-mover advantage.