Saturday, January 12, 2019
Chicago welcomed record-breaking 57.6 million visitors in 2018, including both business and pleasure, as per the city’s new tourism numbers. Mayor Rahm Emanuel attributes attractions like Art on the Mart for the record growth in tourism. It shows a 4.3 per cent jump over 2017’s record of 55.2 million arrivals.
The rate of growth among domestic travellers, rose by 4.4 per cent from 2017. Chicago welcomed overseas visitors too whose numbers swelled by 2.9 per cent. The growth happened despite gun violence and strained police-community relations.
The mayor said: “Travel and tourism is a word-of-mouth business.”
Conde Nast Traveler readers voted Chicago the No. 1 (big) city for two years in a row. The restaurants, the theaters, the music, the museums and hotel rooms all add to the growth. World-famous architecture is one of the reasons Conde Nast Traveler readers have voted Chicago the No. 1 big city two years in a row.
In 2011, there were 39 million visitors in Chicago which grew to 57.6 million in 2018.
Business travel was up 3.5 per cent in 2018 compared to the last year, as per the new figures, while leisure travel rose by 4.7 per cent.
Airline Passenger Information System data from the first 11 months of last year show a increase in following passports – Brazil (16.2 per cent), U.K. (14.1 per cent), Italy (10.9 per cent), South Korea (9.2 per cent), Mexico (7.4 per cent), Canada (2.5 per cent), and China (2.1 per cent).
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
