Tourism growth boosting revenues for Northwest suburbs

A 6.1% increase in overnight hotel stays helped bring in a quarter billion dollars of revenue to the eight suburbs represented by the Meet Chicago Northwest visitors bureau in 2024.

And those roughly 3 million stays do not include the additional revenue brought to the area by business and leisure travelers, bureau President Heather Larson said.

“When guests stay in our hotels, they dine in our restaurants, they shop in our stores and they fill up their gas tanks — they spend money across the region supporting many businesses and providing jobs,” she said in a statement. “This helps to sustain the wide variety of amazing restaurants, retail establishments and attractions that our residents are also able to enjoy.”

The bureau markets tourism for Arlington Heights, Elk Grove Village, Itasca, Schaumburg, Streamwood, Rolling Meadows, Roselle and Wood Dale. It attracts everything from business conventions and trade shows to sports tournaments and weddings.

“Our collaborative approach works in a way that couldn’t be done individually,” Larson said.

Schaumburg Economic Development Director Matt Frank recognizes a benefit in the bureau’s specialization in the tourism and hospitality industries.

“I think the value is in their expertise in destination marketing,” he said.

Larson believes projects like the construction of a walkable entertainment district around the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center, the post-pandemic refilling of corporate space and Arlington Heights’ ongoing negotiations to bring the Chicago Bears to town will enhance engagement efforts.

Marketing efforts in the past year have included attendance of about 40 trade shows; the wrapping of Uber and Lyft vehicles in Chicago, Rockford and Milwaukee with Meet Chicago Northwest branding; and promotion to corporate travelers to blend some extra days of leisure into their business trips.

Recent major wins have included booking the PGA Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club in Itasca in September 2026 and beating Vancouver, British Columbia, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, to host the World Irish Dance competition in the spring of 2026.

The area’s natural asset that Meet Chicago Northwest works to build on is its accessibility, Larson said.

Olympic Park in Schaumburg regularly attracts about 1.5 million people a year for sports tournaments, she added. It’s become a model for similar projects elsewhere in the suburbs.

Larson hopes other planned amenities will continue to drive tourism growth in the coming years.