Emily K. Rafferty, Chairman of the Board of NYC & Company and President of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company, have announced the release of “New York City Tourism: A Model for Success,” the first-ever official report on New York City’s tourism industry.

The report highlights the exceptional growth of the tourism industry after the 2006 merger of NYC & Company, NYC Big Events and NYC Marketing to form a revolutionary public-private municipal marketing and tourism model that has been emulated by destinations around the world.

Since the creation of the re-envisioned NYC & Company, the City has seen a record 52 million visitors, an all-time high of $55.3 billion in economic impact and a 27 per cent increase in leisure and hospitality jobs—the most of any industry over the last seven years. The report was released to key local media and the leading 2013 mayoral candidates. 

“Tourism’s robust growth since 2006 is no accident—it was the result of an innovative model and deliberate strategy to target emerging international markets and promote the diversity of tourism activities across all five boroughs,” said NYC & Company Chairman Emily Rafferty.

“In order to maintain this momentum and reach our goal of 55 million visitors and $70 billion in economic impact by 2015, the industry will be looking for continued investment and support from the next administration.” Rafferty added.

“New York City Tourism: A Model for Success” was distributed to key local print and broadcast media and to campaign headquarters of all eleven 2013 mayoral candidates. With the report, NYC & Company aims to start a dialogue about the importance of the tourism industry and highlight NYC & Company’s accomplishments as the official marketing, partnership and tourism organization for the City of New York. 

“The story of New York City tourism’s unprecedented success is one that we should all be proud of,” said NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta. “Over the past six years we have welcomed more visitors than ever before and have generated billions of dollars in economic impact for the City. We plan to continue our efforts and “New York City Tourism: A Model for Success” marks the first-step in an industry-wide effort to ensure that the 2013 mayoral candidates and other elected officials acknowledge and support New York City’s fastest growing industry.” 

Since 2006, the City has set new visitation records in six out of seven years while the tourism industry created 78,200 new leisure and hospitality jobs. Over the past seven years numerous industry sectors experienced exponential growth including hotels, cultural institutions, the conventions and tradeshows market, dining, retail, Broadway and entertainment.