Last year, Bruce Dimpflmaier, director of operations at Tony’s Di Napoli at Times Square, had an early end to New Year’s Eve.

“After last year and going home and being in bed by 11 on New Year’s Eve, after usually being here in the middle of Times Square, it was quite exciting,” Dimpflmaier said.

After closing for much of the pandemic this year, Tony’s Di Napoli is once again opening its doors to regulars for a New Year’s Eve party, though not as many as they would allow in before the pandemic

What You Need To Know

  • The return of the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration is the latest sign that business is picking up in the city

  • The Times Square Alliance anticipates an increase tourists in December

  • The group is working with the NYPD and businesses to make sure customers can get to their destinations when movement is tightly controlled

“We have a beautiful show that we put on here with current and former Broadway Tony award-winning talent and it’s just an amazing night that we get to celebrate here with our friends,” Dimpflmaier said.

The return of the New Year’s Eve party at Times Square is another sign that the area is starting to live up to its reputation as a bustling tourist destination and business center after it went quiet during the pandemic.

“It was a ghost town here,” Dimpflmaier said. “We were shut down for most of the year and then we took a huge financial hit here last year. Even with the government subsidies it just was a devastating hit.”

Broadway is back, as are tourists, after the U.S. relaxed restrictions on international travel and travel at the borders with Mexico and Canada.

That allowed Susan Farquharson and her husband Greg Price to travel to New York from New Brunswick Canada.

“We were so happy to be able to come and see our relatives again after two years and to be back at Tony D’s,” Farquharson said. “It’s marvelous to be back in New York City after so long.”

Tom Harris, president of the Time Square Alliance, said restaurants and hotels here are already feeling the financial boost.

“We see an uptick in visitors for the whole second half of December so we’re very happy. We’re very excited. The hotels are thrilled. The restaurants, you have to make reservations to be there,” Harris said. “It’s really going to be an exciting time to be in Times Square.”

“We’re thrilled to see the hotels and the restaurants coming back,” Dimpflmaier said. “Now that shows are open here in Times Square, there’s definitely some of that buzz coming back and we’re feeling it, as you can see here tonight.”