I attended the Illinois Governor’s Conference on Travel & Tourism and learned that tourism is a HUGE money maker for the state and the city. And 2013 was a record-breaking year for the state and city.
Illinois Travel Stats for 2013:
- 7 million visitors – 103.5 M were from U.S. and 2.2 M were international visitors
- Visitor spending totaled nearly $34.6 billion – $31.1 B and $2.2 B were spent by U.S. and international visitors respectively.
- State tourism provides approximately 301,100 jobs
- Tourism generates more than $2.6 B in state and local tax revenue
- Illinois state tourism saves the average household $1,300 in taxes each year
Chicago Travel Stats for 2013 (from Choose Chicago):
- Approximately 48 million visitors came to Chicago – 47 M from U.S. and 1.4 M from international destinations
While this is great news for the state and city overall, it means very little for the South Side. We need to figure out what can be done to attract tourists beyond Museum Campus South.
Visitors are missing out on the history and culture our side brings and our communities are missing out tourism dollars. Clearly, cash is coming in and we’re getting very little of it.
Here are a few possible solutions: 
- Illinois mascot “Mini Abe” needs to visit the South Side. This guy has been to the Super Bowl and to Japan, but has never been to our side of town which is a train or bus ride away. What’s up with that Abe?
- South Side tourism businesses and organizations need to market and advertise more. While I know budgets are limited, it’s time to do some creative partnering with universities, businesses and the media
- The city and state needs to include the South Side on tourism maps. Most tourism maps end at either 22nd Street (McCormick Place); 35th Street (US Cellular Field) or 55th (Museum of Science and Industry and DuSable Museum)
- Since tourism is high on the mayor’s list of priorities, South Siders need to somehow get on his priority listing. Y’all could have made this an issue during the governor’s race and the mayoral race – yep, y’all missed this opportunity
- South Side tourism companies should at least invest in a membership to Choose Chicago to start getting on the radar of visitors
Other lessons from the conference:
- There are profitable opportunities in the tourism industry; you just have to be observant and creative. Think local, regional and global. Most importantly, think mobile.
- More diversity is needed for speakers. For minority tourism experts interested in speaking at next year’s conference, sign up to receive update so you can respond to their call for speakers.
I had a good time; learned a lot; and I’m trying to figure out how I can profit from the tourism industry.
Image: eyeopenertv.com
I’m glad someone on the Southside finally gets it. We are being shut out of the future of the city and state and mush mouth “community activist” don’t want to see our communities prosper. When a trade show that brings $100 miliion into the economy of Chicago and the South and West sides only see about 5-10% of that somethings wrong.
To state that no one will stay on the Southside and go to McCormick or Chicago State is ludacris. Travelers want a nice, modern, clean facility and they will come but these activist continue to stay stuck in the 70’s remembering motels which are basically outlawed in Chicago under current zoning.
I have advocated that any monies allocated to municipalities for tourism have a requirement that money must be spent for neighborhood tourism development( training, loans, etc).
Man, Worlee, if the South Side could get an inkling of the tourism dollars that flow into this city, it could possibly provide more jobs to current residents and build upon its current tourism assets. We have quite a few but they are not being publicized and promoted like the other side of town.