Just months after predicting a decline in tourism — and attributing it to President Trump — city officials were forced to eat crow Tuesday, announcing another record-breaking year for both domestic and international visitors in 2017.
The de Blasio administration made the dire prediction last February, while Trump was making inflammatory comments about immigration and knee-deep in his Muslim ban controversy.
Initially, they predicted 300,000 fewer international visitors.
In November, they revised their estimate to 100,000 fewer.
They were wrong both times.
There were actually 13.1 million international tourists in 2017, up 400,000 from the 12.7 million who swarmed to the city in 2016.
Domestic visitors reached 49.7 million — for a combined total of 62.8 million, the eighth straight annual record.
“Even with all the headwinds from the White House, we attracted a record number of visitors to our city,” Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted in a statement Tuesday.


