In Defense Of Tourists

Tourists may have strange accents, ask dumb questions and not know how to walk* but they also dump an assload of money into New York, as this news that tourism is at an all-time high reminds us:

An all-time high of 41 million visitors traveled to the city in 2005. And the city is on track to record one of its best holiday travel seasons in years, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.

According to a preliminary forecast, more than 8.25 million visitors enjoyed the holidays in New York in November and December, an increase of 6% from the previous year.

Citywide hotel occupancy for December is expected to be 86%, up from 83% in 2004.

“There’s been this resurgence in interest and in love for New York City,” Bloomberg said yesterday. “People will come here because they know that the city is safe — they know the city is exciting.”

(The mayor also used the announcement as an opportunity to plug a new Javits Center, but that’s neither here nor there.)

*This seems like as good a time as any to plug our new “Learn How To Fuckin’ Walk!” New York City tours, in which actual New Yorkers show visitors around the city.