Tourism in New York City
New York City received a ninth consecutive annual record of approximately 65.2 million tourists in 2018, the busiest tourist city attraction, and one of the world's overall busiest tourist attractions,[1] counting not just overnight visitors but anyone visiting for the day from over 50 miles away, including commuters. Overall the city welcomed 37.9 million visitors who stayed overnight in 2018, of whom 13.6 million were international.[3] Major destinations include the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, Broadway theatre productions, Central Park, Times Square, Coney Island, the Financial District, museums, and sports stadiums. Other major visitor activities include luxury shopping along Fifth and Madison Avenues; entertainment events such as the Tribeca Film Festival; Randalls Island music festivals such as Governors Ball, Panorama and Electric Zoo; and free performances in Central Park at Summerstage and Delacorte Theater. Many New York City ethnic enclaves, such as Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Brighton Beach are major shopping destinations for first and second generation Americans.
New York City has over 28,000 acres (110 km2) of parkland and 14 linear miles (22 km) of public beaches.[4][5] Manhattan's Central Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, is the most visited city park in the United States.[6] Prospect Park in Brooklyn, also designed by Olmsted and Vaux, has a 90-acre (36 ha) meadow.[7] Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, the city's fourth-largest, was the setting for the 1939 World's Fair and 1964 World's Fair.
Tourism companies[edit]
New York City law requires all guides to be licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs. A professional trade organization of licensed tour guides in the city is GANYC (Guides Association of NYC), which represents just 10.9% of all licensed tour guides in the city.[13] Potential licensees must pay a fee and take a compulsory 150-question examination about New York City topics, of which they must get at least 97 questions correct.[14][15][16] As of 2018, over 3,000 guides have certification.[16]
In 1992, the "Greeter" initiative was founded by Lynn Brooks with the association "Big Apple Greeter" in New York City.[17] The voluntary and personal hosting of tourists should improve the bad image of the megacity. More "Greeter" projects followed in other United States cities and worldwide. More than 300 volunteers "greet" over 7,000 visitors per year in New York City as of 2010.[18]
NYC & Company, the city's official convention and visitor bureau, is currently headed by Fred Dixon. It has offices in 14 countries, including Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Korea and China.[19] NYC & Company is the official source of tourism statistics for the city. The research department develops and distributes comprehensive information on NYC domestic and international visitor statistics and monitors the travel industry's impact on New York City's economy. The department also produces 14 official New York City tourism marketing publications that feature information on member hotels, museums, attractions, theaters, stores, restaurants, meeting venues, and service providers.
All of the below attractions are located in Manhattan unless otherwise stated. Only attractions with more than 2 million visitors are listed. The most visited attractions in New York City include:
Notes: