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WHILE MANHATTAN continues to be the hot spot for New York convention-goers, the other boroughs are increasingly serving as havens for day-trippers seeking a genuine taste of the Big Apple.
Last December, Karen Shackman dispatched a medical group from Belgium to a part of the city they had never seen before: the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. There, in the area's emerging art colony, the 15 physicians shopped the galleries and even met with artists.
"This group had been to New York, and theywere interested in seeing what goes on outside of Manhattan," says Ms. Shackman, president of Shackman Associates New York, a Manhattan destination management and event planning firm.
For the been-there, done-that crowd, the boroughs outside Manhattan are gaining ground as intriguing places to explore, if not necessarily locations in which to hold entire meetings. In many instances, groups are climbing aboard chartered buses in Manhattan and crossing New York's waterways to sample life beyond the dazzling lights of Times Square and the iconic Empire State Building.
Such outings appeal both to international guests and to domestic visitors who have been to the city before, giving businesspeople valuable opportunities to get off the beaten path. Excursions run the gamut from a detour into Bronx neighborhoods en route...