Soaring temperatures aren’t the only thing keeping New York City hot this year.
The Big Apple’s a sizzling spot for tourism, with a record number of visitors expected by the end of the year, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.
The city is on pace to welcome 47.5 million tourists this year — up from the record 47 million in 2008 and 45.6 million last year — making it the most visited city in the United States, Bloomberg said during a City Hall news conference to announce the construction of a Delta Airlines terminal at Kennedy Airport.
“We are on course to have another record-setting year,” Bloomberg said. “New York is the aspirational destination around the world. It really is.
“We have taken that over from London and Orlando, and it’s because we keep this city clean and safe, it’s because we keep this city open to everybody, it’s because we do the edgy things in culture.”
The mayor estimated tourists would funnel $30 billion into the local economy by the end of the year.
City officials attributed the rosy projection to popular destinations, while a New York-based travel expert said the weak dollar has played a major role in the tourism boost.
Tourism is “going back up because the euro’s gone back up” in value, said John Williams, president of New York Guest, a company that arranges travel plans and staffs hotels.
Williams also said corporations have loosened the reins on spending this year, and travelers are more comfortable opening their wallets.
“We have seen an uptick in the disposable income,” Williams said. “They’re not as frugal as they were about a year ago.”
The mayor’s staff said new sites, such as the High Line park in Chelsea; Brooklyn Bridge Park; the pedestrian plaza at Times Square; and a series of public art exhibits have attracted more tourists because they receive international press coverage, and are often free.
“One of the biggest challenges in building tourism numbers is to get people who visited three years ago or 10 years ago to come and spend again,” spokesman Stu Loeser said.
“Always having new things combats the tendency of people to think they’ve been here, done this, and will visit somewhere else instead.”
The city’s tourism and marketing arm, NYC & Company, said attendance at Broadway shows and museums is also at an all-time high — in particular, at the Museum of Modern Art, which attracted a historic number of visitors, more than 3 million, in fiscal year 2010.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art welcomed 5.24 million guests during the same fiscal year — the most since 2001, according to NYC & Company.
“This is the one place everybody wants to come to,” company CEO George Fertitta said. “We are a city that is constantly changing, constantly growing.”