Record Number Of Tourists In Illinois Last Year

Jim Anderson -- Illinois Radio Network

Tourism in Illinois totaled 105.7 million visitors last year.

This is all the people whose travel destination was Illinois, for business or leisure, whether they came from in-state, out-of-state or another country. This is a 3 percent increase over 2012, and it’s a record.

Adam Pollett, director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, says these visitors spent $34.5 billion.

“When you talk about $34.5 billion of (spending), you talk about the taxes for local and state government, the revenue that comes in, but most importantly you talk about the jobs, hundreds of thousands of jobs from these numbers, thousands just from the growth alone in this year,” he said.

Jobs in the industry are 301,100, up 2,400 from 2012, and state and local tax revenue was $2.6 billion.

The numbers, announced today (Thursday) by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, were compiled by D.K. Shifflet & Associates.