"Then what kind of tourist are you referring to? a very select few of them? Because the majority aren't hipster, bohemian or fashionista cosmopolitan types?"
Well its not a major point I'm trying to make aand I don't have any data, but New York is an expensive place to visit and I see a type of tourist there who I don't really see here in Toronto. Prosperous Russians, Germans, Swedes, Japanese (other languages i can't identify) usually expensively dressed because they are older. I'm not talking about the student crowd, really.
If you are very rich and visiting North America and you want the North American urban experience you'll do New York every time - why not? Rich Germans in their 50s aren't going to tramp around Kensington market, they're going to do 5th Avenue and call it a day. I am generalizing.