NY Braces Itself For Everyone And Their Mother

New York City tourism hit an all time high this year—that’s [44 million visitors] on top of the 8-plus million residents you typically shove out of your way on the subway. Tourist numbers were expected to drop in the aftermath of 9/11, but clearly New York hasn’t become the wasteland people feared it would. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement that tourists contributed $24 billion to the city’s economy this year alone, so let’s all thank the camera-totin’-stretch-pants-sportin’ tourists. New York officials now project the city will attract [50 million visitors](http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061227/lf_afp/ustourismtravel_061227194505) a year by 2015.