The first-ever official report on New York City's tourism industry has been released, according to a press release from BreakingTravelNews.com. The report was released by Emily K. Rafferty, the Chairman of the Board of NYC & Company, along with George Fertitta, the CEO of NYC & Company.

The report is titled "New York City Tourism: A Model for Success." It highlights the growth of the tourism industry after the 2006 merger of NYC & Company, NYC Big Events and NYC Marketing to form a public-private municipal marketing and tourism model that has since been emulated by other destinations and cities around the world.

Since the company has re-imagines itself, New York has seen a record high in visitors, with 52 million, earning an all-time high of $55.3 billion in economic impact and a 27 percent increase in leisure and hospitality jobs, which is the most impact of any industry in the last seven years.

"Tourism's robust growth since 2006 is no accident - it was the result of an innovative model and deliberate strategy to target emerging international markets and promote the diversity of tourism activities across all five boroughs," Emily Rafferty, the Chairman of the Board of NYC & Company and President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "In order to maintain this momentum and reach our goal of 55 million visitors and $70 billion in economic impact by 2015, the industry will be looking for continued investment and support from the next administration."

"New York City Tourism: A Model for Success" was given out to key local print and broadcast media outlets and to the campaign headquarters of all 11 2013 mayoral candidates. NYC & Company is hoping the report will start a dialogue about the importance of the tourism industry on the economy and highlight NYC & Company's accomplishments as the official marketing, partnership and tourism organization as the official marketing, partnership and tourism organization for the City of New York.

"The story of New York City's tourism's unprecedented success is one that we should all be proud of," George Fertitta, the CEO of NYC & Company, said. "Over the past six years we have welcomed more visitors than ever before and have generated billions of dollars in economic impact for the City.

We plan to continue our efforts and 'New York City Tourism: A Model for Success' marks the first step in an industry-wide effort to ensure that the 2013 mayoral candidates and other elected officials acknowledge and support New York City's fastest growing industry," Feritta continued.

The city has set new visitation records in six out of seven years, creating 78,000 new jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry.