In 2010, about 225,000 Irish visitors came to New York City, new figures show.

The combined spending power of the Irish visitors in 2010 was $441 million, with Irish visitors spending on average a little less than $2,000 per person per trip (on average they stay 8 nights).

Shopping is one of the favorite activities amongst Irish visitors to New York City, research shows that about 91% of the visitors from Ireland shop when in New York City.

Meanwhile, a record number of tourists visited New York City in 2011, spending about $32 billion, Mayor Mike Bloomberg said on Tuesday.

By the end of the year over 50.2 million people will have visited the city, having an economic impact of around $48 billion, the city said in a statement.

"Five and half years ago, we set an ambitious goal to reach 50 million visitors by 2015 and in 2008, we accelerated that goal to be the end of 2012," Mr Bloomberg said in a statement.

"Today, we know that we will exceed this significant milestone by year's end."

New York City is the most popular destination in the US for visitors from Ireland, according to city officials.
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New York maintained its ranking as the number one city destination and overseas destination.

Tourism has contributed to supporting 320,000 jobs in the city’s five boroughs, the city added.