New York, March 19 (IANS): New York city aims to attract 67 million visitors annually by the end of 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with tourism officials, has announced.

The mayor said the 'Big Apple' achieved its goal of 55 million visitors a year ahead of its 2015 schedule by welcoming an until-now record of 56.4 million visitors in 2014, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

"This year, we're committing to attract a record 67-million annual visitors by the end of 2021 and we look forward to working alongside businesses, large and small," he said on Wednesday.

Data show that each additional million visitors would result in significant economic gains, including generating more tourism-related jobs and visitor spending.

Of the expected 67 million visitors, 16 million are expected to come from international markets and 51 million from within the US.

Last year, visitors' spending resulted in some $61.3 billion in economic impact and $3.7 billion in tax revenues, and supported 359,000 tourism related jobs.