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New York City had its eighth consecutive year of record tourism arrivals in 2017, with an estimated 62.8 million visitors, 2.3 million more than in 2016.
NYC & Company, the city’s tourism-marketing organization, had been predicting a drop-off in overseas visitors for 2017, by as much as 100,000, which would have been the first such decrease since 2009.
The organization publicly blamed the Trump administration’s policies and rhetoric, such as its attempts to institute travel restrictions on Muslim-majority countries, for creating an unwelcoming message to the world that would keep visitors away. Instead, 2017 arrivals to the city comprised 49.7 million domestic and 13.1 million international visitors, both all-time highs.
“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,” NYC & Company CEO Fred Dixon said in a statement. “The strength from our Asia and South American markets helped offset drops in our traditional European core markets.”
NYC & Company credited its 2017 marketing campaigns, “New York City — Welcoming the World” and “True York City,” as helping “to counter the negative rhetoric,” Dixon said. NYC & Company also signed more international city-to-city tourism partnerships last year than it had in any other to help boost travel, the organization said.
Hotel demand soared to a record 36.4 million room nights sold, a 4.5% increase over 2016.
Source: travelweekly.com