Why it's important to visit New York right now

Residents of the Big Apple need ­ and appreciate ­ your support, says Hamish McRae

Take Mayor Rudi Giuliani's advice: go to New York. The city's economy has taken a tremendous beating in the weeks following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, and the mayor has been urging Americans to go there and spend some money. But this applies equally to Britons: never has there been a better time to see that extraordinary city. We went there 10 days ago ­ myself reporting for this paper and my spouse to see friends ­ and we had one of the most memorable and moving few days of our life.

There are three overriding reasons why anyone contemplating a visit to New York should do so as soon as possible.

The first is to show support. If you know people in New York, they might have lost family or friends. Many will have been bombed out of their offices or even homes ­ the flat of a friend of ours was only a few hundred yards from the blast. Doing normal things ­ having lunch, chatting about family ­ seems to help New Yorkers to fight back.

People without particular friends there will also find themselves warmly welcomed at this time for the awfulness has created a general sense of unity. The police, who with the firefighters are the new heroes of the city, are charming and helpful. People even talk to each other on the subway: we met a rescue worker who had come down from Canada and described the way the teams were cutting through the steel.

The second is to catch a glimpse of the destruction and the heroism of it all. No one, without visiting lower Manhattan, could conceive of the extent of the destruction. Television, as Hillary Clinton pointed out, diminishes the scale of the catastrophe. Go there and you realise that this is the equivalent to something like one-third of the City of London's offices being destroyed ­ a force equivalent to between 5 and 10 per cent of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Balance viewing the ruins with a church service or perhaps a visit to one of the little shrines that have sprung up. We found ourselves in St Patrick's Cathedral, listening to Cardinal Edward Egan talk of the need for justice ­ not revenge. We also went to the Brooklyn Heights esplanade, just across the East River from the southern tip of Manhattan, only one stop on the subway from Wall Street. There were the poignant pictures by children of the Twin Towers that you can no longer see across the water, the attack, and the rescue attempts: an effort to understand but also a celebration of the heroism of ordinary New Yorkers.

And the third reason for going now is to spend some money. There are naturally many bargains both on the flights and in the hotels. Midtown, to the casual visitor, looks pretty normal, for it is some seven miles from the blast. But it needs help ­ not just the grand hotels and restaurants, which are half empty, but the little family-owned corner shops, the drug stores and the diners. As a result there are great bargains. We stayed at the Essex House on Central Park South at about half the normal rate. Many of the shops are running sales but even without that New York prices are lower than London.

In a few months' time the reconstruction will get under way and the economy will revive. But that is why it is right to go now. Not only do you catch a moment of history, you also help a tiny bit when help is most needed. And you have a truly fascinating, if in some ways humbling, time.