Three exhibitions presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in summer 2015—China: Through the Looking Glass, The Roof Garden Commission: Pierre Huyghe, and Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends—generated an estimated $946 million in spending in New York, according to a visitor survey released by the museum on Friday. Using the industry standard for calculating tax revenue impact, the study found that the direct tax benefit to the City and State from out-of-town visitors to the museum totaled some $94.6 million.  Fifty-four percent of the out-of-town exhibition visitors reported that visiting the Met was a key motivating factor in their decision to visit New York.

Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum, said: "We were so gratified to see that visitors—local, national, and international—responded in record numbers to our exhibitions and collections this year. The Met remains the number one attraction in New York City, while simultaneously playing an important role in the lives of so many New Yorkers. The strong attendance to China: Through the Looking Glass—the fifth-highest-attended exhibition in the Museum's history—and other exhibitions clearly influenced the economic impact number, which is the highest ever reported by our survey."

In the summer 2015 period, the Costume Institute's exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass, on view May 7–September 7, 2015, drew 815,992 visitors. Attendance for The Roof Garden Commission: Pierre Huyghe was 483,208 during its run from May 12 through November 1. And Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends had a total attendance of 254,750 from June 30 through October 4, 2015. (Further details about these exhibitions appear below.)

The survey was conducted from May 12 through September 7, 2015. During that period, the Met welcomed 2.5 million visitors, 74% of whom came from outside the five boroughs of New York City—28% were domestic and 46% were international tourists. Eighty-three percent of travelers reported staying overnight in the City and, of these, 75% stayed in a hotel, B&B, hostel, or rented apartment. The average length of stay was 6.7 days. These out-of-town visitors reported spending an average of $1,145 per person ($762 for lodging, sightseeing, entertainment, admission to museums, and local transportation, and another $383 for shopping).

Fifty-four percent of Met out-of-town visitors to the exhibitions cited the Museum as a key motivating factor in visiting New York City. Using a scale of zero to ten, 54% gave a rating of 8 or above when asked how important seeing the Met was in motivating them to visit New York. The primary purpose of traveling to New York was pleasure for 84% of visitors, business for 4%, and combined business and pleasure for 12%. The estimated economic impact is $511 million for the portion of visitors who reported their visit was highly motivated by a trip to the Museum, and $341 million for those who said the exhibitions were a key motivation, yielding an estimated tax benefit of $51.1 million and $34.1 million, respectively.

The full-year estimate of visitor spending in New York, by out-of-town visitors to the Museum in Fiscal Year 2015, is $5.41 billion. During that fiscal year (July 1, 2014–June 30, 2015), The Metropolitan Museum of Art welcomed a record 6.3 million visitors, 26% of them from NYC, and 74% from outside the five boroughs.

Economic impact is calculated using the standard estimated sales tax rate.

The latest economic impact survey was conducted by the Museum's Office of Market Research.