The famous ‘I love NY’ tourist T-shirts may have to be changed to ‘All 52 million of us love NY’.

That’s how many people visited the Big Apple in 2012, setting a new record that broke the previous year’s milestone of 50 million.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg touted the success last Monday, ahead of the annual mega-street party for the dropping of the New Year’s ball on Times Square.

He said 41 million visitors were from inside the US and 11 million from abroad, altogether generating about $55.3 (€42) billion in revenue and keeping New York in top place for US travel destinations, with 33 per cent of the overseas market share.

“New York City continues to attract people from all around the world who want to experience our unique culture, food, parks, shopping, arts and energy,” Bloomberg said. “We are well on our way to achieving our new goal of 55 million visitors and $70 (€53) billion in economic impact by 2015.”