"Cultural" Tourist Stats Revealed

On the topic of tourists and tourism, according to the Post, NYC & Co., the city's official tourism marketing organization, released a new report on just who is coming to the city, how many of them, what they're spending and where (Can anyone actually find this report on the NYC & Co. site? The best we could do was this, which isn't it). And the last years numbers are reportedly really good.

To wit: Last year we had 17.2 million "cultural tourists" (people who came and went to museums, zoos and other "cultural" sites), which is 300k less than the 2001 record of 17.5m but 9% higher than in 2003. Those same "cultural tourists" make up 43% of the cities total tourists and spent a whopping $9.1 billion (up from $8.2 in 2003). International tourists made up about a third of the group (4.3m), tended to stay a week in the city and spent an average of $98 a day. Alternately, domestic tourists tended to stay only a day but spent an average of $190 per day.

Oh, tourists. You give us your money and leave.