Tourism to ILLINOISouth Contributing to Robust Economic Growth in Illinois
The Illinois Office of Tourism announced both international and domestic travel expenditures reached $39.5 billion in 2017 which is a $1.1 billion boost to the state’s economy since 2016. Visitors to the state hit an all time high in 2017 with an additional 1.6 million travelers from 2016 contributing to an increase of visitor spending, tax revenue and local jobs. IlliNOISouth Tourism played a role in the state’s added economic domestic growth, with $1.39 billion in travel expenditures (a 5. 1% increase) and $34.4 million in local tax revenue (a 4.9% increase). More than 6,000 jobs were created across the state as a result of visitor spending, with 336 of them in ILLINOISouth.