Is tourism important to Illinois?

Yes. The travel and tourism industry has generated the largest number of new jobs in Illinois over the last five years. More than 165,000 people are employed in the field today. An estimated 33 million people visted Illinois in 1988, spending $11 billion and paying $1.5 billion in federal, state and local taxes.
Source: Office of Lt. Gov. George H. Ryan

Aggressive advertising

In fiscal year 1988. Illinois spent more than $20 million wooing the tourist to the Prairie State. Only New York spent more. Half of the toursim promotion budget is spent on advertising.
Source: Same as above.

Historic Illinois

There are 27 officially designated historic sites in Illinois. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA) handled the 3,075,131

visitors in 1988, an increase of 648,945 from 1987. The sites are scattered around the state, as far north as Ulysses S. Grant's home in Galena and as far south as the Shawneetown Bank in Shawneetown.
Source: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

Mr. Lincoln's state

Illinois' slogan is not the Land of Lincoln for nothing. Lincoln's Tomb, the Old State Capitol and the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office in Springfield, New Salem village near Petersburg and Lincoln's log cabin south of Charleston pull a 42 percent of IHPA's vistors.
Source: Same as above.

From railsplitter to politician

Mr. Lincoln made a name for himself in a promising Sangamon river town called New Salem. In 1988, the historic site led all others by attracting 561,920 vistors. In 1833, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois General Assembly and took the oath of office in Vandalia. It would be three more years until the capital moved to Springfield. The venerable Vandalia Statehouse had 28,881 vistors in 1988, making it the 20th most visited state historic site.
Source: Same as above.

Enough history, what about the camping?

There are 125 sites managed by the Illinois Department of Conservation. As of September 1988, almost 29 million visitors spent at least a few hours with Mother Nature. Chain O'Lakes State Park in the northeast corner of the state topped the list with 1,256,263 visitors for the first nine months of 1988.
Source: Illinois Department of Conservation.

The greenhouse effect and tourism

Why was there a 234,426 decrease in campers, fishermen, boaters, hikers and the like from the same time the year before? Simple, the Drought.
Source: Same as above.

Let us not forget the Windy City

Even in tourism, the rest of the state still remains in the shadow of Chicago (yes, even downstate hero Lincoln is of little help). In 1987, the 4,400,000 visitors to the Museum of Science and Industry on Chicago's south side made it the most popular attraction in the state. In a close second was the north side's Lincoln Park Zoo with 4,000,000 visitors.
Source: Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs.

A bit of culture

Chicago has one of the most famous and extensive system of museums in the nation. When surveyed, out-of-staters listed museums more than any other attraction as to what they liked most about Chicago.
Source: Market Facts.

Do international visitors see more than O'Hare?

Yes. In 1986, the latest year figures are available, 955,000 foreigners visted Illinois. Among states, Illinois ranked 11th in 1986. As would be expected, California and New York lead the competition among states for foreign visitors and dollars.
Source: U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration.

O Canada

Canada leads all nations in visitors to Illinois. An estimated 229,000 Canadians visited Illinois in 1986. Among overseas nations, Japan tops the list with over 126.000 visitors.
Source: Same as above.

General funds get a boost

The general funds balance at the end of January was a nifty $300,329 million, and the average daily available balance was $264,926 million. A big settlement in January of a protested insurance tax on premiums sold in Illinois by out of state insurance companies gave the funds a one-time boost, but there was also some growth in tax revenues.
Source: Office of the Comptroller.

Things are looking so good, the Fed may get crotchety

The revised national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in January was 5.4 percent, up from 5.3 percent in December, but the economy created 408,000 new jobs and employed a record 62.9 percent of working age Americans. The revised seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Illinois was 5.9 percent, the lowest since October 1987, with a record 5.491 million Illinoisans working. The total work force numbered 5.837 million people, with 346,000 unemployed, 42,000 fewer than last month. Mild weather reduced construction layoffs; there were fewer post holiday layoffs in retail sales, while recalls and new hires were up at various manufacturing facilities.

Illinois' nonfarm employment in January 1989 was up 2.6 percent or an estimated 128,000 jobs from January 1988. Services and trade accounted for over one-third of the total increase, while manufacturing added 17,000 new jobs. Only mining and government showed job losses over the year.

Still pending revision as of February 6, the final employment rates in November in the state's major metro areas were:

Aurora-Elgin, 5.1 percent.
Bloomington-Normal, 5.1 percent.
Champaign, Urbana, Rantoul, 4.6 percent.
Chicago, 5.9 percent.
Davenport. Rock Island, Moline (Illinois sector), 7.9 percent.
Decatur, 8.8 percent.
Joliet, 6.8 percent.
Kankakee, 8.4 percent.
Lake County, 4.1 percent.
Peoria, 6.8 percent.
Rockford, 6.8 percent.
Springfield, 5.6 percent.
St. Louis (Illinois sector), 8.8 percent.
Source: Department of Employment Security.

Bill Kemp

March 1989 | Illinois Issues | 5