tourism

Officials at Ice Castles LLC announced this week that they are bringing back the much-beloved frozen works of art this winter to the Geneva National Resort, just west of Lake Geneva.

Things are pretty tough right now, but the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (RACVB) says that prior to the impact of COVID-19 and record losses in the industry, Rockford and Winnebago County achieved an unprecedented ten-years of growth in its tourism sector.

We've been long-time supporters and admirers of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (RACVB) and their work to make Rockford a "must-see" city.

Visitor spending in Rockford and Winnebago County reached an all-time high of $383.7 million in 2017, an increase of 8.3 percent over 2016.

After sitting vacant for several years the old Joliet prison will begin offering walking tours in August.

Nearly 114 million people traveled to the state last year to “Enjoy Illinois” and give a $1.1 billion boost to the state’s economy.

And they did it during some seriously cold weather.

Pop quiz, hotshot. Our state of Illinois, while nowhere near the tourism capital of the United States, still managed to draw how many visitors in 2016? If you just shouted "110 million!" at your monitor--congrats. You nailed it.

Thanks to a pretty lame movie of the same name, the "Bucket List" is something we often hear about, and maybe even have one of our own. For those who've been too busy living their lives to pay attention to trendy phrases, a bucket list is simply a number of things that one wishes to do or experience before they die--or, "kick the bucket."

Do a little Google-ing about the top places to visit in Illinois, and you'll see a familiar name pop up in list after list: Rockford's own Anderson Japanese Gardens.