Last year a record number of tourists both foreign and domestic visited New York, which added up to a fair piece of change for the city's tax coffers as well as for the merchants, restaurants, hotels and cultural institutions that cater to them. Now with the cratering of the real estate and the financial sectors, tourism becomes the one remaining pillar of the economy. With foresight and forethought, the city went into action months ago with plans to better inform potential visitors before they get here and to better serve them once they arrive. The result is a new hi-tech touch-screen interactive center in Midtown, a refurbished and renamed website and marketing and advertising campaign designed to get the message across that New York City is still the world's number one tourist destination. The new website, nycgo.com, is one of the coolest city sites you'll ever see, not coincidentally because it had the good sense to team up with PAPERMAG.com as a content provider along with the New York Observer and Time Out New York.

So it was with good cheer that I made it over to 810 Seventh Ave. where Mayor Mike -- as he was fondly referred to -- took to the podium, answered questions and tried out the high-tech bells, whistles and the nifty Google map integration which makes you feel like you're flying from Wall Street to Jackson Heights in a single bound.

The Mayor informed us that marketing and advertising New York has become a priority. And that the city is expanding its footprint to 18 cities around the world as well as stepping up its presence in the mid west and California.

While he believes that Obama administration will be sympathetic to the plight of cities, he's not waiting for them to build schools, repair bridges and rescue the city. For now, the city's decent credit rating makes it possible to continue improving the infrastructure while the new administration in Washington puts its plan together.

The press conference concluded, the Mayor made his way around the center, chatting amiably while putting his theoretical tourist itinerary together and watching it come to life on the Google map that can be delivered to your mobile device. Though I wasn't in favor of him undoing the city charter so he could run again for Mayor, he does exude confidence even as the markets rumble.