Eye On Illinois: Tourism officials happy to report year-end totals, hope trends continue

Numbers tell a story, but rarely without help.

Gov. JB Pritzker and tourism officials took a victory lap Monday in reporting hotels statewide reported a record $307.8 million revenue in fiscal 2023, beating the prior record of $296.3 million.

It’s not worth comparing fiscal years where pandemic mitigation throttled the industry, and a new gross revenue mark is notable. But the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index inflation calculator determined the buying power of $296.3 million in May 2019 was the same as almost $351.9 million in May 2023.

To be clear, industry officials acknowledge this reality. Michael Jacobson, Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association president, told Capitol News Illinois that despite good trends, overall staffing and occupancy rates haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.

As such, there are other numbers to consider from the state tourism office and its partnership with the Tourism Economics analytics firm. Among those are counting 111.3 million visitors in calendar 2022, which is down from the record 122.8 million in 2019. Inflation is active again in the fact the difference of 11.5 million visitors yielded a much smaller change in tourism spending, with $45.5 billion in 2019 and $44.3 billion in 2022.

Illinois spent $6 million on its “Time For Me to Drive” tourism campaign in 2021 and blew that figure away by investing in the $30 million “Middle of Everything” blitz last spring. The tourism office credits the latter campaign for an extra 2 million visitors and $1 billion spent at “hotels, restaurants, small businesses and attractions,” per CNI, a quite staggering return on investment, but then again, I’m not a tourism data analyst.

Skepticism aside, the numbers clearly show a recovery in progress. While things like Taylor Swift’s Soldier Field concerts might grab the biggest headlines, there are hotels and festivals and attractions in every county, all contributing to the overall effort.

Celebrating these figures is fine, but the work to show improvement in 2024 is already well underway.

ANOTHER BENEFIT: I often write about the value of the state’s (occasionally under appreciated) community college system, so it’s only natural to help promote the Illinois Community College Board’s plan to use grant money to cover the cost of a “State of Illinois High School Diploma,” which used to be called an equivalency certificate.

If you’re one of the 1.2 million Illinoisans who didn’t finish high school, visit iccb.org/divi/freegedil/ for information on taking the exam for free along with a link to services offering free test preparation.

The ICCB says people with diplomas earn $600 more per month on average than those without. Maybe eventually we’ll get numbers on how many coupon code clicks increased gross income statewide – a return on education investment.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.