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New York City Expects More Tourists, but Fewer International Visitors

New York City’s tourism promotion agency, NYC & Company, estimates that the number of visitors will rise again this year, to a record 61.8 million from 60.5 million in 2016.Credit...Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Nothing, it seems, not even President Trump’s “America first” rhetoric and insistence on banning travelers from certain countries, can stop the steadily rising flow of tourists to New York City.

The city’s tourism promotion agency, NYC & Company, estimates that the number of visitors will increase again this year, to a record 61.8 million, from 60.5 million in 2016, an increase of slightly more than 2 percent. That would make 2017 the eighth straight year in which tourism hit a new high, NYC & Company said.

But the relentless influx has not stopped city officials from trying to dream up ways to attract even more tourists. Their latest global campaign, dubbed True York City, is scheduled to begin on Monday with ads appearing in airports, subways and at bus stops around the world, as well as on thousands of LinkNYC screens across the city.

The projected annual increase in tourism this year will come despite the first decline in the number of international visitors to the city since 2009, said Fred Dixon, NYC & Company’s chief executive. Mr. Dixon said the agency now expects a decline of about 100,000 foreign visitors in 2017, compared with the decline of 300,000 it had feared earlier this year as a result of the “Trump effect.”

Mr. Dixon said he believes that the strength of the American dollar, which has reduced the buying power of some foreign currencies, was an important factor in the decline in international travelers. But he said he remains concerned that the Trump administration has not welcomed foreign visitors.

“There’s a real concern that this isolationism, this ‘America first’ rhetoric could lead to a decline in international travel,” Mr. Dixon said.

New York would suffer more than other American cities, he said, because about 30 percent of all foreign tourists to the United States visit New York City, he said. New York also draws the largest number of visitors from countries on the Trump administration’s revised travel ban, he said.

A decline in international visitors is particularly costly because international tourists spend about $2,000 each, on average, or about four times as much as the average domestic tourist, Mr. Dixon said. NYC & Company estimates that the number of domestic visitors in 2017 will increase by about 1.4 million to 49.2 million.

The agency counts every overnight visitor and everyone who visits from at least 50 miles away. Its estimate for this year may prove conservative: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reports that the number of international arrivals at the three major airports that serve New York City increased by 4.1 percent in the first eight months of 2017.

Mr. Dixon said that tourists are a boon that the city depends on. City taxes collected annually from tourists have more than doubled in the last decade, to $4.2 billion in 2016, Mr. Dixon said.

The new ad campaign was designed to attract travelers who might stay longer and explore more of the city in search of an “authentic” experience, said Elan Cole, the creative director for NYC & Company. “We want to invite them in our best, true voice,” he said.

The first ads in the campaign refer to “Famous Original New York City,” a message intended to be received in a variety of ways, including as an inside joke to New Yorkers. It plays on the habit of pizza parlors and other businesses in New York, no matter how long established, to describe themselves as both famous and original.

NYC & Company created a website for the campaign that features pictures of street scenes taken throughout the city by five photographers. It encourages visitors to follow suit and post their own images of the city on social media, tagged as #TRUEYORKCITY.

The website describes New York as a place filled with “the dreamers, the doers, the never-settlers.”

It adds that the city is “world famous and one-of-a-kind original — here forever and never the same from day to day. Everybody wants a taste, but it’s better to stop and savor the whole thing. Only then can you get to the true New York.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 19 of the New York edition with the headline: Tourists Keep Coming, Though Fewer Arrive From Other Countries. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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