: National, regional and foreign tourists spent a combined $220
million in New York City during their visits to The Metropolitan
Museum of Art's winter exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci, Master
Draftsman," according to a museum audience survey. Visitor
spending generated an estimated $12 million in direct tax
revenues for the city and the state.
Attendance reached 401,000 for the exhibition, which was on view
for a limited run of less than ten weeks at the museum, January
22-March 30. The survey found that nearly two-thirds of the
visitors traveled from outside the five boroughs of New York
City, 22 percent from the metropolitan area outside New York City
and 31 percent from other states in the nation, spending a total
of $220 million on lodging, food and related expenses during
their stays.
David E. McKinney, president of the museum, noted that the
exhibit was "the highest attended drawings show in the
Metropolitan's 133-year history."
The museum's office of research and evaluation conducted the
survey under Jeffrey K. Smith, professor of educational
statistics and measurement and chair of the department of
educational psychology, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers
University. Based on a random sampling of 541 visitors to the
Metropolitan during the week of March 16, average per person
expenditures while in the city were estimated at $559, with an
additional $286 on shopping, with a total economic impact of $220
million.
