On Monday the Mayor announced from Rockefeller Center that in the past year, 47 million visitors came to New York, spending $30 billion.
The new figures top last year’s record of 46 million visitors spending $28.9 billion. What put it over the top was the increase in international visitors, who numbered 9.8 million this year, that’s one million more than last year.
The weakened dollar, which was at a record low against the euro and the yen earlier in the year, was no small incentive for foreign travelers.
“To be sure, the ongoing downturn will weigh on New York City’s hospitality industry as people all over the world cut back on travel, but the investments we’ve made to promote New York City will continue to pay dividends, now more than ever,” Mayor Bloomberg said on Monday.
The increase in tourism to the city is in part due to NYC & Company’s expanded marketing in 25 international markets and new convention sales offices in California, Illinois, Toronto, Sydney, and Mumbai.
Several focused marketing campaigns were rolled out this year, including the Restaurant Week promotion, Harlem for the Holidays campaign, and the New York City Waterfalls, which NYC & Company heavily promoted both domestically and internationally.
Last year New York City topped cities like Orlando and Las Vegas to rank number one in tourism for the first time, according to the Mayor. NYC & Company projects that record tourism numbers will keep New York in the top spot for 2008.
New York City’s hotel occupancy rates continued to top the national average in 2008 by at least twenty percentage points despite the economic downturn. The City added 1,800 rooms to its hotel inventory, bringing the total to roughly 75,600 rooms, and in 2008, room demand increased 2 percent.
Through September, attendance at New York City visitor attractions and cultural organizations rose 14 percent over the same period last year, according to NYC & Company estimates.
