New York City Breaks Tourism Record Again in 2012 with 52 Million Visitors

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta announced that New York City welcomed a record 52 million visitors in 2012, a new all-time high and a 2.1 percent increase over 2011.

Visitors to the city generated an estimated $55.3 billion in economic impact to the city’s economy, with direct spending reaching $36.9 billion. New York City continues to be the premier United States travel destination, with an overseas market share at a record high of 33 percent.

In 2012, New York City welcomed an estimated 41 million domestic visitors and 11 million international visitors. In addition, New York City sold a record 29 million hotel room nights and generated a record $504 million in hotel tax revenue, and the overall hospitality industry across all five boroughs now employs 356,000 New Yorkers.

In the tourism industry, average annual earnings are higher than $52,000 – roughly $7,000 more a year than average earnings in the entire local economy.  The Mayor made the announcement at the American Museum of Natural History, one of the city’s landmark cultural institutions and major tourist draws, and was joined by Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History, and the Rockettes, who will join the Mayor this evening in Times Square to lower the 2013 New Year’s Eve Ball.

Since 2006, when the Mayor created a new municipal marketing model by merging NYC & Company with the City’s marketing and big events groups, New York City’s share of overseas visitors to the U.S. has increased from 28 to 33 percent. Each market share point represents an additional $750 million in direct spending by tourists in New York City.

NYC & Company has been able to grow the City’s market share of international visitation by targeting non-traditional travel markets with strong economies and growing middle classes. International markets where NYC & Company has global outposts have yielded considerable returns in tourism growth, especially from emerging markets such as Brazil, China, Argentina and Australia, which have grown 447 percent, 442 percent, 258 percent, 157 percent, respectively, since 2006.

With the continued increase in visitation, New York City’s hotel room inventory continues to expand - with 91,500 active rooms. Even with the addition of new rooms, the city’s hotel occupancy remains strong at 87 percent, the highest in the nation.