BOARDMAN Travel agency tries to help New York

THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
Newsweek and CNN called even before the agency started advertising the tour.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
BOARDMAN -- What started out as a plan to offer specially priced luxury Big Apple tours as a way to boost New York City's economy is attracting national attention for a local travel agency and may become a statewide effort.
Kathy Pahanish, president of Executive Tour and Travel in Boardman, said the agency has received "hundreds of calls" since it starting running advertisements last weekend for the special New York City tour package.
The idea, she said, is to stimulate the Big Apple's economy and encourage its residents in the wake of the terrorist attacks, which have caused business to plummet for restaurants, hotels, stores and theaters there.
"It's a business-to-business venture," she explained. "It's not about going to see the devastation, or raising funds, or congratulating the rescue workers. It's just about supporting the New York City economy."
The plan has caught the imagination of the national news media. Pahanish said reporters from Newsweek magazine and CNN called to ask about the plan late last week, before she'd even started advertising.
Scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 19, 20 and 21, the package features motorcoach or air transportation, two or more nights lodging at the Sheraton New York hotel, tours of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, a pre-dinner theater show at the Beacon Restaurant and a choice of three Broadway shows.
Cost: The price is $400 per person for motor coach travel and a stay of two nights and three days. Air transportation, upgraded accommodations and longer stays will cost more.
Pahanish called the program "The Show Must Go On" when she and her travel planners started putting the tour together last Wednesday.
Then, when she learned that about 900 tourists from Oregon visited New York this week as part of a similar program, she added a subtitle and a new purpose to her agency's plan: Ohioans Called to Action.
"We're not going to let Oregon show us up," she said, adding that she's hoping to book at least 1,000 for the tour to surpass Oregon's number. She's contacting government officials in other parts of the state to garner support and will likely look for partner travel agencies in other Ohio cities if interest and demand seems to warrant it.
Two local businesses helped Pahanish keep the tour costs down. J & amp; W Crown Coachline gave her a discounted travel rate, despite the high demand for bus service in the fall foliage season, and Massaro Productions taped the television commercials free of charge.
Accommodations: Pahanish chose the Sheraton New York because it has been especially hard-hit by reduced patronage. She picked The Beacon Restaurant because it was the sister restaurant to Windows of the World, the eatery at the top of the World Trade Center, which lost more than 70 employees as the staff was preparing for the day's lunch crowds.
For the show, she said, she's offering a choice of "42nd Street," "Music Man" or "Beauty and the Beast," all of which are at risk because audiences have been small since the attacks.
Travel agents across the country are also promoting special package deals for other tourist attractions, like Disney World and Las Vegas, which have also seen their visitor numbers dwindle in recent weeks.
"They're all struggling," Pahanish said, "but there's no other place that has suffered the losses New York City has."
vinarsky@vindy.com