by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:18 PM ET, Wed March 21, 2018
The Big Apple continues to be the place to be.
Tourism officials announced Tuesday that New York City welcomed an estimated 62.8 million visitors in 2017, marking the eighth consecutive year of record-breaking numbers.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC & Company revealed that 49.7 million domestic and 13.1 million international visitors arrived in the city (both all-time records), an overall increase of 2.3 million visitors over 2016.
The hotel industry helped tourism thrive in 2017, adding 4,000 new rooms to New York's hotel inventory last year and bringing the total to nearly 116,500 rooms. The city sold a record 36.4 million hotel room nights in 2017, marking 4.5 percent growth from the previous year.
Another factor in the rise of tourism numbers was the 6.2 million meeting and conventions delegates that visited NYC in 2017, adding to the 13 million business travelers that came to the city last year.
"We're keeping our door to the world open," Mayor de Blasio said in a statement. "Even with all the headwinds from the White House, we attracted a record number of visitors to our city. That's a testament to the strength of our tourism sector and the values of our city."
In addition, NYC & Company signed several additional City-to-City tourism partnerships, including Cape Town, South Africa; Toronto, Canada; Tokyo, Japan; and renewals with Mexico City, Mexico; and Seoul, South Korea.
As for the future, NYC & Company's 2018 forecast anticipates another year of growth, with a 3.7 percent increase to 65.1 million visitors.
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