Full Recovery in New York Tourism Not Expected Until 2024

With a slow recovery forecasted in business and international travel, New York’s tourism industry is not expected to reach full recovery for another three years. Tourism is an integral part of the New York economy, a city that has long been one of the world’s top tourist and business traveler destinations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic drop-off in the number of people visiting the city and a deep decline in economic activity. The number of visitors to the city dropped nearly 67% year-over-year to 22.3 million in 2020, according to NYC & Company, the city’s tourism agency. Before that, the tourism industry in New York had been on a steady incline. From 1991 to 2019, the number of visitors to New York nearly tripled, with almost half the growth occurring from 2009 to 2019. In 2019, New York hosted 66.6 million visitors, the 10th-consecutive annual record. NYC & Company projects that tourism volumes will not get back to pre-pandemic levels until 2024, when an estimated 69.3 million visitors are expected. That volume should shoot up to around 72 million visitors by 2025.