Metro

Tourist surge takes Big Apple by storm

The city welcomed a record 52 million tourists in 2012, even as 400,000 expected visitors were scared off by Hurricane Sandy, officials said yesterday.

“We lost originally about 800,000, and we gained back 400,000,” George Fertitta, CEO of the city’s tourism agency, NYC & Co., told The Post. “So our net loss was only 400,000.”

Mayor Bloomberg down-played the storm’s impact on the tourism industry, which has grown consistently under his watch, as anyone strolling Times Square can attest.

“The economy here is so big it would be hard to argue that Sandy hurt,” the mayor said during a press conference with six Rockettes at the American Museum of Natural History.

Records were broken in one tourism-related category after another:

* The 52 million visitors was a gain of 1.1 million over 2011.

* Direct spending by tourists reached $36.9 billion, up 7 percent.

* Hotels logged 29 million “room nights,” up from 27.2 million, and generated $504 million in hotel taxes.

* There were 356,000 people employed tending to visitors, up 4 percent.

“We’re the world’s most aspirational destination,” Fertitta boasted.

He noted the city now accounts for 33 percent of all international visitors to the United States.

No other city comes close. Los Angeles is a distant second at 13 percent.

The mayor attributed the city’s success to its low crime rate, excitement and investment in culture.

“People talk about the bicycle lanes,” he said. “You guys make fun of them sometimes. These are reasons people come here. People talk about closing Broadway . . . You should go there at night and see why people want to come to New York City. This is the place where it is happening.”

Bloomberg, upbeat over the city numbers, refused to take a shot at Orlando, which claimed it attracted 500,000 more tourists last year than New York.

“We wish Orlando well,” he said. “We’re not here to destroy anybody. Go to Orlando. It’s a wonderful place. I had a great time there, and you should, too.”

He added that New York provided a “very different experience” and attracts “a different kind of person.”

The city’s estimates on visits are based on computer models and are conservative, Fertitta said.

Last year, NYC & Co. predicted 2011 would end with 50.5 million visitors. The official tally from the US Commerce Department came in at 50.9 million.

“So there’s potential that’s left,” he said.