New York tourism just hit another goalpost beyond recovering from pandemic lows.
During a stop at the New York State Fair on Aug. 28, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that 306 million people visited the state last year, the highest number recorded in the state’s history.
Tourists spent a record $88 billion on lodging, food, transportation, and more in the state, which produced a total economic impact of $137 billion, according to Hochul.
Domestic visitors spent $88 billion in New York last year, up from $78 billion in 2022 and $53 billion in 2019, whereas international visitors’ spending remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Overseas travelers, including visitors from Canada, spent more than $19 billion in 2019. Last year, they spent more than $15 billion.
In the annual reports, visitors are defined as those who stay overnight or travel more than 50 miles to destinations in New York. Tourism Economics, an affiliate of the global advisory firm Oxford Economics, was hired by the state to prepare the reports.
Over a third of the $88 billion direct tourism spending in the state last year was for lodging and a quarter for food, followed by retail, transportation, and recreation, which generated $49 in indirect economic impact and nearly $11 billion in state and local tax revenues.
Lodging includes hotels, short-term rentals, and second homes.
New York City accounts for the lion’s share of the state’s tourism economy. Historically, three in five dollars left behind by tourists has been spent in the city, according to the reports.
Outside New York City and Long Island, Central New York saw the largest visitor spending among eight upstate tourism regions last year, followed by Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes, and Niagara.
Before the pandemic, Hudson Valley had seen the biggest visitor spending among upstate regions—visitors spent nearly $2 billion more in the region than in Central New York in 2019—but the region’s post-pandemic rise is far less robust than that of the latter.
The Adirondacks and Catskills regions are most reliant on the tourism sector when it comes to job markets, according to the reports.