New York, Dec 21 (IANS): New York's "quality of life" led around 50.2 million tourists to visit the city this year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said.

"Five and half years ago, we set an ambitious goal to reach 50 million visitors by 2015, and in 2008, we accelerated that goal to be the end of 2012," Xinhua quoted Bloomberg as saying in a statement Tuesday.

"Today, we know that we will exceed this significant milestone by year's end," he said.

"New York City's quality of life has contributed to this great success and we are confident we will sustain the success of our tourism industry in the months and years ahead," he said.

NYC & Company -- the city's tourism agency -- forecast that the city will attract 10.1 million international visitors, a four percent increase over 2010, and 40.1 million domestic visitors by the end of the year.

The figures also translates into good business, with $32 billion in tourist spending and $48 billion in economic impact by the start of 2012.