CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[the urban politician]

^ Think about how much more revenue to the city we can get if we increase international visitors from 3% to 10%. That’s still not even that high.

[F1 Tommy]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Think about how much more revenue to the city we can get if we increase international visitors from 3% to 10%. That’s still not even that high.

Whenever you walk around downtown it seems like more than 3% during the summer. More like 25-35% based on the language spoken. I wonder if there is something making that number not accurate. After hearing how some cities count their visitors numbers(NYC for example) I am starting to doubt a lot of the statistics as being somewhat biased. Yes stats do lie if misinterpreted.

[Baronvonellis]

Originally Posted by F1 Tommy

Whenever you walk around downtown it seems like more than 3% during the summer. More like 25-35% based on the language spoken. I wonder if there is something making that number not accurate. After hearing how some cities count their visitors numbers(NYC for example) I am starting to doubt a lot of the statistics as being somewhat biased. Yes stats do lie if misinterpreted.

The key word you mentioned is during the summer. For 3-4 months there might be 25% international but then the rest of the year might only be 3%. I've been to Miami several times, you can definitely tell that half the people there are international. English is a second language in Miami Beach, I'd say 75% of people there are speaking Spanish. I don't really get the same impression in Chicago. There's far more domestic people here visiting.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

The key word you mentioned is during the summer. For 3-4 months there might be 25% international but then the rest of the year might only be 3%. I've been to Miami several times, you can definitely tell that half the people there are international. English is a second language in Miami Beach, I'd say 75% of people there are speaking Spanish. I don't really get the same impression in Chicago. There's far more domestic people here visiting.

Right, but lets also not forget that a huge number of those Spanish speaking people in Miami aren't tourists--they actually live there.

The Miami area has a huge proportion of its population as Latino immigrants

[Baronvonellis]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Right, but lets also not forget that a huge number of those Spanish speaking people in Miami aren't tourists--they actually live there.

The Miami area has a huge proportion of its population as Latino immigrants

Yes, that's true. Although, when they are talking to shop keepers and waiters they only speak very broken English, while usually Spanish speaking immigrants have a better grasp of English if they live in the US. I did hear alot of Portuguese spoken as well.

[Baronvonellis]

Yea, it is strange that Chicago get's so few international visitors. When I've talked to Europeans they usually all wanted to visit New York first, then Miami/Disney, and then Los Angeles in the US. No one I met ever even had Chicago on their mental radar. When I told them what a huge and cool city Chicago is they were really impressed. Europeans are all really fascinated by skyscrapers, but they didn't know that Chicago has tons of skyscrapers. They knew more about skyscrapers being in Hong Kong than Chicago. But I just don't think Chicago is very well know outside of the US.

I checked Miami's tourism numbers for example in 2017 they only had 15.8 million total visitors. Yet 7.8 million- 49% are international! I was surprised that Miami gets alot less total visitors. Chicago has 7 times more domestic visitors than Miami- which is a huge number! But yet only 20% of the international visitors that Miami has.

Chicago needs to do alot better job marketing to international locations.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

Chicago needs to do alot better job marketing to international locations.

^ The understatement of the year.

But nobody seems to be listening

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

I checked Miami's tourism numbers for example in 2017 they only had 15.8 million total visitors. Yet 7.8 million- 49% are international! I was surprised that Miami gets alot less total visitors. Chicago has 7 times more domestic visitors than Miami- which is a huge number! But yet only 20% of the international visitors that Miami has.

I have a good friend from Venezuala. Before the recent troubles, his family would fly to Miami once a year to go back-to-school shopping. The cost of clothes was so much lower that they just about broke even on the trip. Tickets were under $400 and the cost of some goods was much lower. I'm sure it's the same for upper-middle-class families all over Latin America.

[galleyfox]

Most Europeans on vacation in the U.S. don't particularly care to visit our cities at all. Maybe New York and Los Angeles because they appear in the movies, but for the most part they much prefer the National Parks, and the Midwest just drew the shortest short stick on that front.

Chicago is just so isolated from the other major metros like no other U.S. city. International tourists have trouble fitting it into an itinerary. But that isolation makes Chicago a monster when it comes to domestic tourism, second only to Orlando by some measures. It has no regional competition.
Speaking to my European relatives, it seems that Chicago is developing a reputation abroad as the "authentic" American cultural experience. They come to America wanting to see the famous sights, but also to see the lifestyle and people that they remember from old Westerns and thrillers and noir films, and they're not finding too much of it in New York, LA or Las Vegas anymore.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

Speaking to my European relatives, it seems that Chicago is developing a reputation abroad as the "authentic" American cultural experience.

This should absolutely be the marketing play. "The most American of American cities" is the perfect tagline for the campaign and it is attributable to a President revered internationally. What am I missing? Not fancy enough for Rahm?

[marothisu]

Choose Chicago had actually been opening up offices in foreign countries and then the whole state budget thing happened and also (I think) their budget was cut. So they closed a few of those offices, cut staff, etc.

As has been stated on here a million times, Chicago has terrible marketing. Regarding the want to see American things - that can be true. Obviously there's a lot of ethnic areas of Chicago but the downtown today in Chicago is fairly American down to the food. Don't get me wrong, there's some authentic ethnic food downtown but it pales in comparison to some of the other parts of town. It's true though that many people want to have an "American" type of experience but in a city. Whenever my Moroccan friend would visit me, he'd crave burgers, steaks, cheesecakes, etc. A lot of people I'd met from Europe especially always mentioned this type of thing as a plus - not in the negative type of connotation that others would assume. Not everyone wants this of course - my fiance's parents want more ethnic things when they visit except for maybe steak..

Anyway, clearly domestic tourism isn't much of an issue for Chicago. While international tourism certainly isn't small, it definitely lags behind a handful of cities and it shouldn't lag behind some. Yes, people usually stay on the East Coast or do the whole LA/Las Vegas thing, but most international tourists have more money and if they have a reason to come to Chicago, they will. Of course we all know they do have a reason, but they don't necessarily know it. The majority of the Europeans I met in Chicago while they were visiting had this whole "Who would have thought - in the middle of America away from NYC and LA??" attitude after a day or two.

[Vlajos]

I have hosted quite a few Europeans here over the years. They absolutely love it and generally end up saying it's their favorite US city. Obviously, not enough are coming to get the word out.

[Tom In Chicago]

Aside from New York, Miami/Disney/Florida and Los Angeles/Las Vegas/other-California-blahblahblah what else would an international tourist be interested in seeing in this country? The Grand Canyon??? I'm being honest. . . Chicago is just another city to most tourists (international or otherwise) not a tourist destination. . . unless they have family, work or some higher educational reasons, they're not coming. . . I don't know what's so shocking about it. . . lack of marketing aside, I don't think you can take the 5 months out of the year anyone would want to be here out of the question either. . .

. . .

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

Yes, that's true. Although, when they are talking to shop keepers and waiters they only speak very broken English, while usually Spanish speaking immigrants have a better grasp of English if they live in the US. I did hear alot of Portuguese spoken as well.

Many Spanish speakers who actually live in Metro Miami do not speak English very well. Many are refugees, so they may be in the US under different circumstances from voluntarily economic migrants. I was in Miami a lot for business last summer and a significant number of my Uber/Lyft drivers spoke next to no English. I even ran into checkers at Publix (the grocery chain) who couldn't even conduct that level of exchange in English (that was in the suburb of Hialeah).

As an Airbnb host in River North here in Chicago, about 2/3rds of my guests between April and October are international, but only about 15-20% over the winter.

[Chi-Sky21]

i dont think marketing outright is going to do that much good really. How many times do you go somewhere abroad based on seeing an ad on a billboard/print/online? Art Institute and the Opera are world class but people who really care about that are limited. People who want to see historic sites are not going to come here, people who want beaches/resorts are not coming here, people who want nature/outdoors are not coming, gambling and nightlife pretty much no too. Festivals like lola draw people but mostly from the states. Cut deals to host the best conventions, medical and tech especially and that would help. We need more attractions and events to get people here and word will spread. No idea why Rahm did not agree to the terms for the world cup, that was a mistake in my opinion. People travel from all over for that...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Chi-Sky21

i dont think marketing outright is going to do that much good really. How many times do you go somewhere abroad based on seeing an ad on a billboard/print/online?

Marketing and advertising are different things. Marketing is a lot more broad than coming up with some cheesy ads.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by Chi-Sky21

i dont think marketing outright is going to do that much good really. How many times do you go somewhere abroad based on seeing an ad on a billboard/print/online? Art Institute and the Opera are world class but people who really care about that are limited. People who want to see historic sites are not going to come here, people who want beaches/resorts are not coming here, people who want nature/outdoors are not coming, gambling and nightlife pretty much no too. Festivals like lola draw people but mostly from the states. Cut deals to host the best conventions, medical and tech especially and that would help. We need more attractions and events to get people here and word will spread. No idea why Rahm did not agree to the terms for the world cup, that was a mistake in my opinion. People travel from all over for that...

FIFA's terms were downright awful. Basically trying to force Chicago to rebuild Soldier Field, while exempting FIFA from local labor and finance laws while giving them a 10 year tax break among other issues. Not to mention, megatournaments, even if the stadiums already exist, just bleed municipal cash.

Besides Chicago is the only city that can truly shuffle millions of people from coast to coast in short notice, so we'll be maxing out on tourists anyway. Many of whom will simply be touring the country after their team gets knocked out.

FIFA has more troubles. Cincinnati and Kansas City are the only representatives left in the Midwest, and those are less than inspiring destinations as far as mass tourism amenities go. Curious to see what they do there.

[jpIllInoIs]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

FIFA's terms were downright awful. Basically trying to force Chicago to rebuild Soldier Field, while exempting FIFA from local labor and finance laws while giving them a 10 year tax break among other issues. Not to mention, megatournaments, even if the stadiums already exist, just bleed municipal cash.

Besides Chicago is the only city that can truly shuffle millions of people from coast to coast in short notice, so we'll be maxing out on tourists anyway. Many of whom will simply be touring the country after their team gets knocked out.

FIFA has more troubles. Cincinnati and Kansas City are the only representatives left in the Midwest, and those are less than inspiring destinations as far as mass tourism amenities go. Curious to see what they do there.

Agree that FIFA was/is holding stadium hosts hostage. But they wont be giving a shit about missing Chicago. They still have 23 bids for 16 slots. I applaud Minny, Chi, San Diego and Vancouver for politely declining, or telling them to go f**k themselves, however it went down. Sorta like the Olympics bids.

[Khantilever]

Originally Posted by Chi-Sky21

i dont think marketing outright is going to do that much good really. How many times do you go somewhere abroad based on seeing an ad on a billboard/print/online?

The idea is that it expands the set of possibilities in your mind and can potentially nudge you once it's actually time to make a choice.

For example, I've been seeing some really nice ads lately for Lexington, KY. So while planning a road trip from Chicago to Nashville, I thought about how it might be cool to stop in Lexington on the way. I don't think the thought would even have occurred to me if it weren't for the ads, but of course the ad wouldn't even come to mind if the circumstances didn't make it relevant.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Khantilever

The idea is that it expands the set of possibilities in your mind and can potentially nudge you once it's actually time to make a choice.

For example, I've been seeing some really nice ads lately for Lexington, KY. So while planning a road trip from Chicago to Nashville, I thought about how it might be cool to stop in Lexington on the way. I don't think the thought would even have occurred to me if it weren't for the ads, but of course the ad wouldn't even come to mind if the circumstances didn't make it relevant.

So true

Chicago's inferiority complex is kind of similar to the story of the eagle that thought of itself as a chicken:

https://www.askgateway.com/the-eagle...was-a-chicken/

Outside of New York, there is no city on the Western Hemisphere that has the whole sum of things to offer as Chicago does. It's absolutely ridiculous that tourists from outside the US are coming to the US, renting cars, and driving around LA. For what, exactly? To see Hollywood and the houses of the stars? What do you see after that? I bet you anything that these foreigners go home thinking that they've seen the best that America has to offer.

It's outright silly that nobody locally has made a major effort to counteract that silliness. A vacation in Chicago (at least during the warmer months) is about 10 times more meaningful and fun than that.