Chicago tourism rises; visitors ignore Trump’s condemnation

By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association President Michael Jacobson is proud to call Chicago an outlier when it comes to new tourism figures that show the city bagged nearly $3 billion in hotel stay revenues alone in 2025.

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.”