The 2007 annual ranking of the nation’s leading tourism destinations compares domestic and international tourism spending, tourism job creation, and the degree to which each city’s economic vitality is dependent upon visitors. The results show that a significant gain in international visitors propelled New York City to the top spot in 2007.

The U.S. City Tourism Impact, recently released by Global Insight, combines domestic and international travel volumes and spending data from D.K. Shifflet & Associates, as well as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Travel and Tourism Industries with metropolitan area economic data and models from Global Insight to rank the most popular tourist destinations in the U.S.