New York City observes growth in Chinese Visitors

Since the recession ended the influx of tourists has been growing steadily, consistently surpassing the goals set by city officials. The impact of tourism on the city’s economy has been increasing too, but not as fast as expected.

The city’s tourism promotion agency, NYC & Company, estimated that tourism spurred $61.3 billion in economic activity last year, far from the pace needed to reach its goal of $70 billion annually in 2015. Much of the discrepancy can be explained by shifts in the global economy, according to Fred Dixon, the chief executive of NYC & Company.

A weak American dollar had drawn crowd of shoppers from Brazil and other countries where tariffs make goods more expensive. Brazilians, who make up the third-largest contingent of foreign tourists, had developed a reputation for filling suitcases with purchases of clothing and everyday items.

Now, with the dollar’s rebound diluting some of the buying power of foreign currencies, city officials are banking on attracting more visitors from less-tapped sources, especially China.

According to City officials in 2014 more than 740,000 visitors came from China, almost five times as many as in 2009. China passed France last year to move into fourth place as a source of foreign tourists, behind Britain, Canada and Brazil.

Emily Rafferty, president of the museum and chairwoman of NYC & Company’s board of directors said that, the Chinese are already the largest contingent of foreign visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They’re definitely the No. 1 visitors to us and we predict it’s growing.

A latest rule change that will extend visas for citizens of China to 10 years from just one should fuel a continued surge of tourism. The bulk of the Chinese visitors have come in groups that sweep through New York and a few other American cities in rapid succession. But a new group of wealthier Chinese tourists, who spend considerably more on luxuries, is emerging.