New York breaks tourism record
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New York City still received a record number of tourists during 2012 despite the effects of Hurricane Sandy.
The city actually posted a 2.1% increase in visitors last year compared to 2011, a total of 52 million. Of those 11 million were international guests with the city taking 33% of the overseas market share of tourists to the US.
A record 29 million hotel room nights were sold in 2012 and generated US55.3 billion (GBP33.9bn) for the city’s economy. Hotel occupancy sits at 87% with currently 91,500 rooms available.
“The tourism industry is thriving, creating thousands of jobs for New Yorkers at all rungs of the economic ladder. We are well on our way to achieving our new goal of 55 million visitors and US$70 billion (GBP42.9bn) in economic impact by 2015,” said New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Tourism is the city’s fifth largest income generator with NYC & Company already looking to new markets to drive its growth targets forward.