Woodfield is called state's top tourist destination, but it's no exact science

It's become a source of pride in Schaumburg to point to Woodfield Shopping Center as the most visited tourist destination in Illinois.

And while there aren't a great number of outside studies to support this assertion, there is one that at first appears to contradict it.

In an annual ranking of Chicago-area tourist attractions by Crain's Chicago Business, it's become a tradition to see Navy Pier at the top of the list.

But Crain's focuses exclusively on sightseeing spots and cultural institutions, leaving out retail centers, the magazine's research director, Matt Carmichael, said.

The Illinois Bureau of Tourism, however, is not so rigid in its definition and considers both Woodfield and Gurnee Mills to be among the top tourist destinations in the region - while not actually ranking them.

"Many of the retail places are tourist destinations because shopping is something people like to do," said the bureau's deputy director, Jan Kostner. "Woodfield is a place people make a choice to go to."

Woodfield General Manager Marc Strich said the number of annual visits to the Schaumburg mall is estimated at 27 million.

This estimate is based on occasional - and costly - people counts inside the mall, as well as more frequent parking lot counts and a comparison of sales against industry standards, Strich said.

"Other destinations are a lot lower," he said.

In fact, Crain's placement of Navy Pier at the top of its Chicago-area list is based on a 2007 attendance of only 8.4 million visitors.

Tourism site?

But what, after all, is a "tourist destination?" It might help to first define a tourist.

Woodfield, like the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, considers visitors tourists only if they've traveled more than 50 miles to get there.

The bureau uses this distance because it's about the minimum that might generate a hotel stay - a useful way of measuring tourism numbers and revenue, Kostner said.

Even by this 50-mile standard, Woodfield's number of tourist visits each year is conservatively estimated at 5 million, Strich said.

That's based on customer marketing research, he said, and backed up by the more than 1,000 motor coach visits from downstate or out of state the mall receives each year. The majority occur during the Christmas shopping season, when each coach carries an estimated 43 passengers.

So while 5 million out-of-towners are certainly enough to make Woodfield a top tourist destination, it's the full 27 million annual shoppers who make it the state's most visited tourist stop.

Also, Navy Pier's own research shows that only about 30 percent of its 8.4 million visitors last year - about 2.5 million - came from beyond the city and suburbs. That's only half the "tourists" Woodfield receives.

A regional draw

Van Galder Coach USA, based in Janesville, Wis., offers frequent trips to Woodfield.

Tourism and travel manager Kim Dooley said the company organizes a number of "Chicago Fun Days" and "Girlfriend Getaways," for which the mall is a prominent stop.

"Chicago Fun Days" passengers are picked up in Madison, Janesville, Beloit and Rockford. Woodfield is the first stop before the coach continues into Chicago.

Dooley said passengers recognize Woodfield as an experience that can't be replicated in their home cities. About a quarter of the passengers on the "Chicago Fun Days" spend the whole day at the mall.

"First, they have a lot to offer, and it's all under one roof," Dooley said of Woodfield. "The closer to Chicago you get, the more expensive everything gets."

Woodfield staff members also greet the passengers at the door and prepare them with coupons, maps and shopping bags.

"They're hands-on the best mall we work with," Dooley said.

Two mall visitors on a recent Van Galder trip were Toots Kessenich of Oregon, Wis., and Patsy Fields of Rockford.

Kessenich said she usually makes the two-hour trip from home at least once a year.

"I like it here," she said. "It has a couple of stores we don't have at home, like Coach purses. Part of the charm is that it's all under one roof, and it's very well kept. We feel very safe here."

"Yes, we can come on our own," agreed Fields, who makes the one-hour trip about every other month.

Fields said the choices at Woodfield exceed everything near her home and she has her share of favorite stores at the mall, like Crate & Barrel.

Cardinal Buses Inc. of Middlebury, Ind., makes about 15 trips a year to Woodfield with passengers from northern Indiana and western and southwestern Michigan, sales manager Sheila Dodd said.

Nearby IKEA is another reason for the popularity of these shopping trips, particularly in the fall, while Medieval Times is also a yearlong draw to Schaumburg, Dodd said.

The discount stores at Gurnee Mills are another major destination for her clients, but the number of trips to both malls are about even now that some of Gurnee Mills' initial novelty value has faded, she said.

Adding it up

While the Illinois Bureau of Tourism promotes travel destinations throughout the state, it doesn't actually rank them by numbers of visitors, Kostner said.

The bureau does identify what are generally considered the top spots in each region. In the suburbs, that includes not only Woodfield and Gurnee Mills, but Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Arlington Park racetrack in Arlington Heights, the Long Grove Historic District, Morton Arboretum in Lisle and Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora.

Maureen Riedy, Lake County Convention & Visitors Bureau president, said Gurnee Mills estimates its total annual visits at 22 million, which would put it second behind Woodfield's estimate.

Navy Pier then comes in third with its 8.4 million visitors in 2007.

Crain's 2007 numbers for other top locations include Millennium Park's 3.5 million, Lincoln Park Zoo's 3 million, Six Flags Great America's 2.4 million, Brookfield Zoo's 2.1 million, the Sears Tower Skydeck's 1.3 million and the John Hancock Observatory's 650,000.

But all say there's no sense of rivalry among these major attractions, which instead work together to build the appeal of the region.

"Navy Pier is a very different place than Woodfield, and people have very different reasons for going there," Kostner said.

Strich said that while Woodfield does take pride in being called No. 1, the title is generally regarded as an observation that has no other business application or perks apart from stores' desire to locate there.

Navy Pier General Manager Marilyn Gardner said the visitor appeal of her top-ranked location also attracts the interest of other companies like American Airlines, Bank of America, McDonald's and Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

"The business appeal for us is the opportunity to partner with some of America's great companies, all of whom want to be associated with the Midwest's No. 1 destination," Gardner said. "Together, they make Navy Pier an even better, family-friendly venue and a great destination for tourists to visit or local residents looking for a relaxing place that's close to home."

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