New York sets all-time high visitor numbers, record room nights. Image: NYCDwellers

New York City attracted a record 52 million visitors in 2012, a new all-time high for the country’s most populous city.

Visitors to the city generated an estimated US$55.3 billion in economic impact to the city’s economy, with direct spending reaching US$36.9 billion, New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s office reported.

The record visitor numbers indicated a 2.1 percent rise over 2011’s results, with an estimated 41 million domestic visitors and 11 million international visitors hitting NYC last year.

New York’s overseas market share was at a record high of 33 percent at the close of 2012.

Across the five boroughs, hospitality kept more than 350,000 New Yorkers employed throughout 2012.

In the tourism industry, average annual earnings are greater than US$52,000, which roughly translates to US$7,000 more per year than average earnings across the entire local economy.

A record 29 million hotel room nights were sold, culminating in a record US$504 million in hotel tax revenue.

“New York City continues to attract people from all around the world who want to experience our unique culture, food, parks, shopping, arts and energy,” NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Despite the setbacks experienced by Superstorm Sandy “we are well on our way to achieving our new goal of 55 million visitors and $70 billion in economic impact by 2015,” Mayor Bloomberg said.