MAYOR ADAMS CELEBRATES NEARLY 65 MILLION VISITORS TO NYC IN 2024, SECOND HIGHEST NUMBER OF VISITORS IN CITY HISTORY

 

New York City Tourism Projected to Surpass Pre-Pandemic Levels in 2025, Marking Full Economic Recovery and Return of Tourists  

 

Number of Visitors to City Increased by 3.5 Percent in 2024 New York City Remains Most Visited Large City in United States 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Tourism + Conventions President and CEO Julie Coker today announced a new end-of-year tourism forecast that shows the city’s continued strong economic growth and reputation as a global tourist destination. In 2024, nearly 65 million visitors came to New York City — the second-highest figure in city history and a 3.5 percent increase from the previous year. The city is on pace to surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2025, marking a full economic recovery. Today’s announcement is another significant milestone highlighting the city’s near-full economic and tourist recovery post-pandemic.  

 

“With nearly 65 million visitors this year — the second highest figure in our city’s history — New York City has once again solidified its position as the premier destination in the nation and one of the top travel spots in the world,” said Mayor Adams. “New York City remains a dynamic hub for tourism, drawing tens of millions of visitors from around the globe and bringing in $79 billion in economic impact. Whether visiting for business or pleasure, the five boroughs has everything you need, from conference halls to theatres to restaurants and hotels — New York City remains the heartbeat of innovation, culture, and opportunity. And we’re looking forward to beating our own tourism record next year with a full recovery.” 

 

“New York City’s tourism sector continues to thrive, reflecting the resilience and global appeal of our city,” said NYC Tourism + Conventions President and CEO Coker. “In 2024, we saw growth in both visitation and spending, reaching an estimated total direct spend of more than $51 billion across the city and state. This recovery supported over 388,000 leisure and hospitality jobs and generated more than $6.8 billion in tax revenue, benefiting local businesses. As we look ahead to 2025, we expect this momentum to continue, further strengthening New York City’s role in driving the state and local economy.” 

 

New York remains the most visited city in the United States and a top destination for international markets and major events. Visitor activity generated an economic impact of $79 billion across the city and state economies, including over $51 billion in direct traveler spending, not adjusted for inflation, reflecting a 3.5 percent increase over 2023. This impact spans multiple sectors, including accommodations, dining, entertainment, sports, live theatre, arts and cultural attractions, retail, and transportation. This economic activity supported over 388,000 leisure and hospitality jobs — approximately 9 percent of the city’s workforce — and benefited thousands of small and minority-owned businesses across all five boroughs. Visitor spending also generated more than $6.8 billion in tax revenue, which helped save each New York City household around $2,000 in 2024. 

 

New York City continues to be the largest point of entry to the United States, with more flights arriving through city airports than any other destination in the country. The New York City subway system rebounded, reaching 1 billion trips before the end of 2024. October was the busiest October for New York City Transit since the pandemic, with nearly 114 million subway rides and over 40 million bus rides — 10 million more subway rides and 3 million more bus rides than the previous year, respectively.    

 

Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, the city has continued to experience economic growth and recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. The Adams administration released “Festive Spending: The Impact of the Holiday Season in NYC,” showing holiday season shopping in New York City has fully recovered following the COVID-19 pandemic by attracting up to 4.4 million daily visitors, creating 14,000 jobs, and pouring over $500 million into New York City’s local economy. As the Adams administration and New York City have broken multiple records for total jobs in the city’s history, and a recent analysis from the New York City Department of City Planning shows a robust recovery of the retail sector, the holiday season is bringing a significant boost to New York City’s economy and continues to put money back in New Yorkers’ pockets, making the city more affordable for working-class people.  

 

Mayor Adams and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy were awarded the rights to host the FIFA World Cup 26™ Final and seven other matches throughout the tournament at New York New Jersey Stadium (MetLife Stadium) in East Rutherford, New Jersey. FIFA World Cup 26™ will be the biggest sporting event ever — where three Host Countries, 16 Host Cities, 48 teams, and 104 matches will unite an entire continent to showcase a momentous new tournament format. FIFA World Cup 26™ matches played at New York New Jersey Stadium (MetLife Stadium), including the Finals, are projected to generate over $2 billion in economic impact for the New York/New Jersey region and will support over 14,000 jobs. Moreover, it is expected that the tournament will bring over 1 million visitors to the region, roughly half of whom will be non-ticketholders.   

MAYOR ADAMS AND ADMINISTRATION DELIVER SAFER, MORE AFFORDABLE NEW YORK CITY IN 2024

 

Mayor Adams’ Third Year in Office Marked by Safer Streets and Subways, Record Amounts of Jobs, Small Businesses, Housing Construction 

  

Adams Administration Passed Historic “City of Yes” Legislation, Put Billions of Dollars Back into People’s Pockets, Expanded “War on Trash”

As he concludes his third year in office, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, senior City Hall officials, and commissioners from agencies across city government today released a list of key wins delivered to New Yorkers throughout 2024 and over the course of the last three years, showcasing once again how the Adams administration is continuing to create a safer, more affordable New York City for all. 

  

“From day one, our administration has focused on creating a safer, more affordable New York City. In 2024, we continued to deliver on that vision and ‘Get Stuff Done’ for working-class New Yorkers,” said Mayor Adams. “Thanks to our extraordinary public servants, America’s safest big city got even safer this year, with overall crime down and thousands of illegal guns, mopeds, and ghost cars taken off city streets. We passed historic legislation to turn New York into a ‘City of Yes,’ shattered affordable housing records once again, and put billions of dollars back into New Yorkers’ pockets. We broke records for the most jobs and small businesses in city history and moved millions of trash bags off our sidewalks and into containers. But we know that there is even more we can do to continue to uplift working-class families. As we look to the future, our administration remains committed to keeping New Yorkers safe and making our city more affordable for the millions of New Yorkers who call our city home.”  

  

Highlights from the third year of the Adams administration include:  

  

Making America’s Safest Big City Even Safer: Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, overall crime continued to fall in 2024, including a 7.3 percent drop in homicides and a 6.8 drop in shootings year to date. The New York City Police Department seized more than 6,000 illegal guns in 2024, bringing the total number of firearms taken off city streets since the start of the Adams administration to more than 19,600. The administration’s crack down on car theft helped lower grand larceny auto for 12 months in a row while Mayor Adams’ “Charge Safe, Ride Safe: New York City’s Electric Micromobility Action Plan” helped cut lithium-ion battery fire deaths by 72 percent since its introduction in 2023. To combat a rise in transit crime, the Adams administration deployed 1,000 additional police officers into the city’s subway system in February 2024, already delivering a 6.1 percent drop in transit crime in the year to date. 

  

Strengthening Quality of Life by Shutting Down Illegal Cannabis Shops, Seizing Illegal Vehicles: After securing the authority from Albany to shut down illegal cannabis and smoke shops in New York City, the Adams administration launched “Padlock to Protect,” closed more than 1,300 illegal smoke shops, and seized over $87 million in illegal product. Mayor Adams expanded partnerships with New York state and across city agencies to seize illegal vehicles, removing more than 73,000 ghost cars and illegal motorized vehicles since the start of the Adams administration. In 2024, Mayor Adams expanded his signature “Community Link” initiative, bringing new operations to Midtown, 14th Street, Roosevelt Avenue, and more. 

  

Creating Safer Streets: To keep New Yorkers safe on roadways and sidewalks, the Adams administration upgraded 2,000 intersections in 2024 with improved traffic signals, raised crosswalks, and instituted other pedestrian safety measures. Mayor Adams helped pass Sammy’s Law in Albany to empower New York City to lower speed limits, as well as legislation to quadruple the city’s red light camera program. To improve visibility, New York City is on track to daylight 1,000 intersections in 2024. Thanks to these efforts, traffic fatalities have reached the lowest level since 2020, down 5 percent since the start of the Adams administration. 

  

Turning New York Into a “City of Yes”: When Mayor Adams came into office, he unveiled three bold zoning initiatives to promote renewable energy, foster economic growth, and build more affordable housing. In 2024, the Adams administration passed the final two proposals, bringing long-overdue change to New York City’s zoning code. “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” — the most pro-housing zoning change in city history — will create up to 80,000 new homes and invest $5 billion in housing and infrastructure while “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity” supports small business and entrepreneurs. In addition to passing Mayor Adams’ Bronx Metro-North plan, the New York City Department of City Planning is advancing plans to create more than 50,000 housing units over the next 15 years in Central Brooklyn, Midtown South in Manhattan, and Long Island City and Jamaica in Queens.  

  

Shattering Affordable Housing Records, Again: The Adams administration, once again, made landmark progress against the city’s housing crisis, shattering affordable housing records for the second fiscal year in a row. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, the Adams administration financed nearly 29,000 affordable homes and public housing units, constructed a record 14,700 new homes, and connected a record number of New Yorkers to affordable housing units through CityFHEPS and the city’s housing lottery. The Adams administration secured City Council approval for the Willets Point Transformation to build 2,500 100 percent affordable units — the largest affordable housing project in 40 years. 

  

Keeping New Yorkers in Their Homes: This year, the Adams administration launched the first Tenant Protection Cabinet to enhance cross-agency collaboration and secured the largest housing discrimination settlement in city history, imposing $1 million in civil penalties and securing 850 apartment units for voucher holders. 

  

Putting Public Housing First: The Adams administration continued to prioritize the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), unlocking $1.35 billion in capital repairs for nearly 7,600 residents through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together program in FY24. The Adams administration also reopened the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher waitlist for the first time in 15 years, selecting 200,000 households, and expanded Big Apple Connect to 150,000 households in 220 NYCHA facilities citywide. 

  

Supporting New Yorkers Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness: Under the Adams administration, New York City has made significant progress getting homeless New Yorkers the help and housing they need. Since the launch of Mayor Adams’ Subway Safety Plan in 2022, the administration has moved over 8,000 New Yorkers from the subways into shelter while, in FY24, the New York City Department of Social Services helped a record 18,500 households transition from shelter into stable homes. This year, the Adams administration launched a new Partnership Assistance for Transit Homelessness initiative and expanded its Subway Co-Response Outreach Teams to connect more New Yorkers to care. 

  

Putting Money Back in Your Pockets: Mayor Adams launched the “Money Back in Your Pockets” initiative to connect New Yorkers in underserved neighborhoods with city, state, and federal resources that help people save money and build on the $30 billion the Adams administration has already put back in people’s pockets. Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, New York City’s Financial Empowerment Centers have helped more than 25,000 New Yorkers reduce their debt by over $37.5 million, and Mayor Adams announced plans to relieve over $2 billion in medical debt for up to 500,000 New Yorkers. 

  

Lowering Taxes, Raising Families: New York City’s year-round free tax prep services have already saved New Yorkers more than $220 million since the start of the Adams administration while the “NYC Earned Income Tax Credit,” which Mayor Adams helped expand, returned more than $345 million to over 1.7 million New Yorkers in tax season 2023. To build on that success, Mayor Adams is calling on Albany to go further by passing his “Axe the Tax for the Working Class” proposal that would eliminate city income taxes for working-class families and put $63 million back into the pockets of over 582,000 New Yorkers. 

  

Wages That Work for Working People: To increase pay and benefits for New York City’s public servants, the Adams administration has reached contracts with 100 percent of New York City’s uniformed workforce and, this year, increased the percentage of municipal employees with contracts to 97 percent of the city’s total workforce. Mayor Adams also secured a $741 million cost-of-living adjustment for 80,000 human services workers, implemented a first-in-the-nation minimum pay rate to put $847 million back into delivery workers’ pockets, and negotiated project labor agreements for over $1 billion in construction projects. 

  

Breaking the Jobs Records, Again and Again: In 2024, the Adams administration broke records for the most jobs in city history and connected nearly 8,500 job seekers to employment, free training, and workforce development through its “JobsNYC” initiative. The Adams administration also unveiled the Green Economy Action Plan

Small Businesses with Big Numbers: Under the Adams administration, New York City has a record 183,000 small businesses, with one in five current small business formed since the start of the Adams administration. The administration’s Small Business Opportunity Fund has awarded more than $85 million in capital to over 1,000 small businesses since launching in 2023 while storefront vacancy rates have dropped for four consecutive quarters. 

  

Setting Young People Up for Success: The Adams administration has connected young New Yorkers to over 15,000 apprenticeship opportunities, more than halfway to the administration’s moonshot goal of 30,000 apprenticeships by 2030 ahead of schedule. Additionally, in 2024, more than 100,000 young people participated in the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program. 

  

Supporting Our Cultural Institutions: In addition to a record $254 million investment in the city's cultural sector through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Adams administration broke ground on renovations, expansions, and other city-supported capital projects at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Weeksville Heritage Center, The Bronx Museum, Nuyorican Poets Café, and more. Additionally, the Adams administration announced more than $52 million in grants for 1,031 cultural organizations through its annual Cultural Development Fund grant making program and diverted over 5.9 million pounds of materials from landfill, making them available to educators, nonprofits, and artists through its Materials for the Arts program free of charge. 

  

Building the Harbor of the Future: In 2024, Mayor Adams continued to unveil and advance generational projects to turn New York City’s waterfront into a “Harbor of the Future,” including a Science Park and Research Campus in Kips Bay in Manhattan, a $700 million climate research facility on Governors Island, the country’s largest offshore wind port at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a modern maritime port and vibrant mixed-use community hub at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Red Hook, a revitalized North Shore of Staten Island, the Willets Point Transformation in Queens, and a cleaner, greener Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market in the Bronx. 

  

Landing the Plane on a $112 Billion Adopted Budget: The Adams administration and the New York City Council reached an agreement on a $112 billion FY25 Adopted Budget to make New York City safer and more affordable by investing $489 million in libraries, $254 million in cultural institutions and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, $100 million in a strategic plan to reimagine early childhood education, and much more. Additionally, the Adams administration announced a record $26 billion investment in affordable housing in the most recent 10-year capital plan. Because of strong, fiscal leadership, the city maintained strong bond ratings from four leading, independent credit rating agencies. 

  

Keeping New Yorkers Healthy: Building on the launch of his landmark HealthyNYC initiative, Mayor Adams filed a lawsuit against the companies that own five major social media companies to hold them accountable for fueling the national youth mental health crisis and delivered free, virtual therapy to 16,000 young people — largely from underserved neighborhoods — through the Teenspace program. The Adams administration has delivered maternal and infant health services to over 12,000 families through the city’s Family Home Visits Initiative since 2022 and ramped up annual investment in opioid prevention and treatment to $50 million per year by FY27. 

  

A First-Rate Education for Every Student: In 2024, Mayor Adams expanded his signature ‘NYC Reads’ initiative to every K-5 school and every early childhood education program as well as launched both ‘NYC Solves’ to overhaul how students learn mathematics and a new Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning in New York City Public Schools. The Adams administration also opened up 24 new school buildings and over 11,000 new seats — the most new seats opened by the New York City School Construction Authority since 2003 — and secured an extension of mayoral accountability in Albany for another two years. 

  

Affordable, Accessible Child Care: To make child care more affordable for working-class families, the Adams administration lowered the cost of child care for a family of four earning $55,000 from $55 a week in 2022 to just $5 in 2024, increased the number of children enrolled with a low-income voucher from fewer than 8,000 in 2022 to over 46,000 in 2024, and saved New Yorkers more than $1.9 billion through child care vouchers since the start of the administration. In 2024, for the first time in New York City history, every family who applied for a 3K seat on time received an offer, while the Adams administration enrolled over 150,000 children across the entire early childhood education system. Finally, Mayor Adams launched a $100 million, 10-point plan to address systemic issues, boost enrollment, and connect families with more pre-K and 3-K seats. 

  

Meeting the Moment on Asylum Seekers: Since the first buses of asylum seekers arrived in the five boroughs in 2022, over 226,900 migrants have come through the city’s intake center. Thanks to smart management strategies, intensive case management, and 30- and 60-day policies, the Adams administration has helped more than 75 percent of migrants take the next steps on their journeys towards self-sufficiency and saved more than $2.8 billion over three fiscal years. 

  

From the Mean Streets to the Clean Streets: In 2024, Mayor Adams expanded his “War on Trash,” issued rules requiring 70 percent of all New York City trash to be containerized, and laid out a pathway to 100 percent trash containerization in the future. The New York City Department of Sanitation cracked down on illegal dumping with over 250 illegal dumping cameras and, following a successful pilot, expanded curbside composting to the entire city. 

  

Public Spaces for the Public Good: Since 2022, the Adams administration has created over 74 football fields of new public space and taken down nearly 250 long-standing sheds and scaffolding through its “Get Sheds Down” initiative. In 2024, Mayor Adams opened the country’s largest outdoor dining program; announced a $150 million investment to transform Fifth Avenue into a safer, greener, and more pedestrian-friendly boulevard; and launched “Ur in Luck” to build and renovate over 80 public restrooms and create an easy-to-use map to help New Yorkers find one near them. Additionally, the Adams administration has implemented a record amount of newly pedestrianized space since coming into office, finishing 2024 with nearly 500,000 square feet of new plazas, curb and sidewalk extensions, pedestrian safety islands, and traffic triangles. 

  

Fighting Flooding Across the Five Boroughs: Since the start of the Adams administration, New York City has invested over $1.2 billion in vital infrastructure to prevent flooding and is on track to deliver approximately 100 miles of porous pavement by 2031, absorbing up to 500 million gallons of rainwater per year. Additionally, in 2024, the Adams administration completed the first phase of the East Side Coastal Resiliency initiative to protect Manhattan from future storms and high tides. 

  

Funding the Future: Thanks to the Adams administration’s Federal Infrastructure Funding Task Force, New York City has secured more than $2.3 billion in federal infrastructure grants since 2022, including $164 million to transform the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, $127 million to acquire nearly 400 electric school buses, $110 million to upgrade the Hunts Point Produce Market, $117 million to build the QueensWay park, and much more.