As befits the country’s largest city, there is almost always an abundance of news centered around New York City. This month alone has brought speculation over the future of Madison Square Garden, a legal win for the city’s congestion pricing program and the possibility that one borough might attempt to secede from the rest of the city. This month has also brought with it a look back at the year in tourism — as well as a forecast of what’s to come.
This week, New York City’s convention and visitors bureau released data on the year that was. Some of the findings were unsurprising: international travel to the city was down slightly (3.2%, specifically) relative to 2024. That said, there was some optimstic data there as well: the number of visitors from Italy, Mexico and the U.K. were all up in 2025 from the previous year.
By comparison, domestic travel to New York was up from 2024 by 1.7%, with 52.4 million people visiting the city over the course of the year. Overall visits were also up to 65 million for the year, an increase of 0.7% over 2024. The report also forecast a slight increase for 2026, with 66.3 million visitors expected to spend time in the city. The convention and visitors bureau also anticipates that the number of domestic visitors will exceed the levels previously set in 2019, with 53.4 million travelers arriving.
Precisely who is visiting New York City provides another window into this story. Occupancy at midscale hotels was down by 7% from the levels set in 2024. Occupancy at upscale hotels remained steady between 2024 and 2025, and occupancy at luxury hotels increased by 1%. With the World Cup taking place this summer, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on these figures at this time next year to see if this trend continues.
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Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal.
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