NEW YORK, Dec. 10 -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that his city will draw 54.3 million visitors this year, an all-time high.

Visitors to New York City will have generated 58.7 billion U.S. dollars in overall economic impact and 39.4 billion dollars in direct spending by the end of this year, while jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector are anticipated to reach a monthly average of more than 370,000, said Mayor Bloomberg, whose tenure will finish on Dec.31.

"Tourism plays a vital role in our city's economy, and the work that we've done to strengthen tourism over the past 12 years has helped our city weather the national economic downturn and come out in far better shape than most other cities," he said. "Since 2002, overall tourism here has grown more than 50 percent, while international visitation has increased more than 100 percent. In addition, more and more people are visiting attractions outside of Manhattan, thanks in part to our efforts to support cultural organizations in neighborhoods across the city."

The number of people visiting the city increased about 3 percent this year when compared with that of last year and there are about 19 million additional annual visitors to the Big Apple since Bloomberg took office 12 years ago.

Of the more than 54 million visitors this year, 42.9 million are domestic travelers, while international tourists make up 11.4 million, a 4.6 percent increase from the previous year. The city's major sources of overseas tourists include Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Germany, and Australia.