Suburbs reap rewards as tourism spending increases

Tourism in the suburbs is mirroring statewide trends showing that spending is increasing, local leaders say.

Tourism in Illinois set records in 2018 for the number of visitors and money spent. In July, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that data provided by the U.S. Travel Association showed visitors spent $41.7 billion in Illinois last year, up 5.1% from 2017, which created an additional $220.8 million in tax revenues for Illinois and local communities. More dollars are being spent in the region, leaders say.

This 5.1% boost in visitor spending is slightly better than the national average of 4.9% growth.

Local tourism leaders say the suburbs are strong when it comes to hospitality. Visitors to the Aurora Area, for example, spent $201.5 million on lodging, gas, dining and other travel related expenditures in the region in 2018, said Cort Carlson, executive director of the Aurora Area CVB. This is a 3.7% increase over the prior year, representing the fourth consecutive year of growth, he said.

Community development projects help foster the hospitality industry, said Dave Parulo president of Meet Chicago Northwest.

Schaumburg is making great strides toward an entertainment district, he said. The village over the past few years has secured property north of the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel. Accompanying this is a private developer that is working closely with the village on the mixed use area on the former Motorola campus. They currently have completed Progress Parkway and have a state-of-the art TopGolf under construction with a planned opening in the fall.

Hotels are also making improvements to stay fresh and bring in additional guests. He said Marriott Schaumburg is about to conclude a $22 million renovation of its property.

In neighboring Lake County, Great Wolf Lodge was in operation for its first full summer, which created extra excitement and interest, said Visit Lake County President Maureen Riedy said. Hampton Inn & Suites Waukegan opened late last year and Embassy Suites Deerfield recently completed a multimillion dollar renovation on all the guest suites.

Coming off a successful BMW Championship in Medinah, DuPage hospitality continues to grow as well, said Beth Marchetti, DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau executive director. The $2.7 billion industry is fostered with area projects in DuPage, she said. Business and leisure visitation throughout DuPage in 2018 contributed to a 4.6% increase in visitor spending; an 8.8% increase in state tax revenue to $174 million and 3.1% increase in local tax revenue to $48 million, Marchetti said.

FMC Natatorium at Ty Warner Park in Westmont will open next year, she said. "This is a wonderful opportunity to drive regional and national swim sports … diving, race swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming and more," she said.

Local leaders are looking forward to a strong end to the year. "With so many great fall events and attractions, we are cautiously optimistic heading into autumn, however industry experts are projecting a softening of travel nationwide through the end of 2019 with leisure travel outpacing business travel," she said.

"As we embarked on 2019, the Chicago Northwest region showed strong performance in the first half of the year," Parulo said. The local hotel meeting industry has kept a very close eye on the end of 2019 due to the city of Chicago having a lighter convention calendar than previous years accompanied with a gain of over 6,000 additional new guest rooms developed in the city of Chicago, he said. Chicago's convention calendar was affected by the city's bid to host of the 2016 Olympics which rippled into the 2019 convention calendar, he said.