Search China Travel News:

New York City announced Sunday that an estimated 46 million people from around the country and the world visited the city in 2007.

The estimate was up 5 percent from 2006's all-time high of 43.8million visitors, said New York Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding Robert C. Lieber at the new Manhattan Cruise Terminal on the occasion of the Cunard royal rendezvous, a historic meeting of the line's three Queen luxury ocean liners in New York Harbor.

The record-breaking number includes an estimated 8.5 million visitors from other countries, representing critical growth of nearly 20 percent in the total international market over 2006.

"The 46 million people who visited New York City in 2007 are invaluable to help drive the city's economy," Lieber said, adding that "the impact of the 28 billion U.S. dollars spent by visitors reverberated across the city's economy, from our shops and restaurants to our hotels."

"With the city well on its way to achieving the mayor's goal of50 million annual visitors by 2015, we've also increased our efforts to make New York even more welcoming to visitors," he said.