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With room night stays and convention bookings both on the rise,
data shows more than 55 million visitors toured the city last
year as convention dates jumped to 65.
“The fact that Chicago kind of bucked the national trend where
we were up actually about 2% when nationally hotel visitation
was down 0.1% shows that Chicago is kind of exceeding a lot of
the national averages and I think there's a lot to grow on
moving forward,” Jacobson told The Center Square. “One of the
main things is we are insulated from a lot of the key segments
of travel that have seen decreases because of some of the policy
decisions coming out of Washington, D.C.”
Jacobson adds the latest improvements took place at a time when
President Donald Trump was blasting the city as a “crime-ridden
hellhole” that is both unsafe and unwelcoming.
“I think people could cut through the noise pretty quickly,
especially if they've been here before or if they take a trip to
Chicago, they see for themselves how great of a city we are and
nobody can undercut that,” he said. “I think travel is kind of
the front door of economic opportunity and economic development
in terms of having people come have a great time, go back home
and tell their family and friends how great the city is.”
Hoping to build on the city’s momentum, Choose Chicago officials
are now pushing a tourism improvement district dedicated to
using a proposed 1.5% fee on downtown hotel stays to further
promote the city. Already, in 2026 city officials have secured
such upcoming events as the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game, 2026 Big
Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament and the 2027 MLB All-Star Game.
“There's still a lot of room to grow just to reach pre-pandemic
levels, let alone exceed those levels,” Jacobson adds.
“Regaining that competitive edge, I think is going to be key to
our future success in the city."
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