Fred Dixon probably didn’t realize it when he first spoke, but the President and CEO of NYC & Company – New York City’s official destination marketing and convention and visitors bureau – was talking ‘travelese.’

Dixon was describing the first moments he heard that pharmaceutical companies Pfizer (which is actually headquartered in NYC) and BioNTech have produced a vaccine for COVID-19 they say is 90 percent effective in preventing the spread of the virus.

“The vaccine news was such a positive mile marker. Things are going to return,” Dixon said today in an interview with TravelPulse.com. “We’ve all been looking to this moment. There has been so much negativity, so much conversation about whether the world is going to go back to the way it is. Let me tell you, we will go back to travel. Travel is a coiled spring that is ready to be sprung again.”

The news is especially good for places like New York City, Las Vegas, Orlando and hundreds, if not thousands, of destinations around the world that rely on tourism and have been hammered and beaten down by the pandemic.

“Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19,” Pfizer CEO and Chairman Dr. Albert Bourla said in a statement that sent travel stocks soaring on Monday. “We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen. With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis.”

According to Yahoo Finance , Pfizer plans to apply for emergency use authorization of the vaccine at the end of this month, fueling hopes that people will venture out to theaters and entertainment venues and start traveling again.

“If anything, the stock performance showed that there is incredible optimism,” said Dixon, who added that he, too, is in the same boat as airline executives and hotel CEOs and cruise officials that have said all along a vaccine is the biggest factor in returning travel to the way it was. “(Having a vaccine) weighed heavily on our minds, absolutely. Here in the city, we always felt like our business owners would show their resiliency and find a way, but having a vaccine would be the key to a return to normalcy.”

Although New York City was the hardest-hit area in the U.S. for the virus back in March, April and May, it redeemed itself quickly over the summer to become one of the places that had the lowest infection rates in the country.

In large part, city officials including Dixon recognized in February that NYC needed to act quickly. He tabbed NYC & Company Executive Vice President of Global Communications Chris Heywood to activate the destination marketing company’s Crisis Management Team.

“I was sitting in Los Angeles about to see an ultrasound of my baby and Fred called and said the crisis was percolating, especially in the Chinese community, and the city’s crisis management team was going to be enacted,” Heywood said. New York City’s Chinatown is one of the most heavily populated areas for tourists in New York with its incredible food and equally incredible bargains in shopping. “We started launching communications to our members and we still do it once a week. We are very proud that we have kept our communications transparent and have not sugarcoated things throughout the pandemic.”

That includes speaking to agents and advisors.

“Oh, definitely,” Dixon said. “We have longed valued working with our travel counselors, folks like Virtuoso and Triple-AAA and various consortia. Everyone has kind of had to re-learn their trade, but their value has never been greater.”

Dixon paused and added, “You know, travelers are not going away. They are just pausing their plans.”