NEW YORK CITY—New York City's tourism industry set a host of new records last year, including attracting a record number of tourists in 2017, an increase of 2.3 million visitors over the previous year.
New York City, in fact saw a record 49.7 million domestic visitors in 2017 and another 13.1 million international visitors, also another high-water market for the city. Last year's tourism results marked the eighth consecutive year of growth for New York City's tourism sector.
The city has the most active hotel development pipeline in the United States, according to city officials. Hotel demand remains strong despite adding 4,000 new rooms to the city's nearly 116,500 hotel room inventory last year. According to figures released by the city and NYC & Co.—the city's destination marketing organization—New York City posted a record 36.4 million hotel room nights, an increase of 4.5% from 2016.
In 2017, 6.2 million meetings and conventions delegates visited the five boroughs, which contributed to the total 13 million business travelers that came to New York City.
“We're keeping our door to the world open,” says Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Even with all the headwinds from the White House, we attracted a record number of visitors to our city. That's a testament to the strength of our tourism sector and the values of our city.”
NYC & Co. president and CEO Fred Dixon says strength from the Asian and South American markets helped offset declines in the city's traditional European core markets.
“Despite geopolitical challenges and a travel ban that made our task of promoting tourism more challenging than ever, we are pleased to see that we overcame these hurdles to realize a consecutive eighth year of tourism growth in New York City, welcoming an all-time high of 62.8 million visitors last year,” Dixon says.
Another key driver for the tourism industry was business-related travel. Last year, a total of 6.2 million meetings and conventions delegates visited the city's five boroughs, part of the estimated 13 million business travelers that visited the city.
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
