Tourism in Chicago draws on the city's status as a "world-class destination known for its impressive architecture, first-rate museums, brilliant chefs" and wide variety of neighborhood attractions. In 2017,

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center near ...

saw 25 million visitors, making it the top tourist destination in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

and among the top ten in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Visitor statistics

Chicago tourism recorded 55 million visitors in 2017. In 2016, Chicago saw 54.1 million visitors; a 2.9% increase from 2015. In 2015, it was estimated that 50.1 million visitors came to Chicago, which was a 4.5 percent increase from 2014. From 2010 through 2014, the tourism and hospitality industries have added 9,800 jobs, generating $13.7 billion in direct spending by visitors and $871 million in total tax revenue. Tourism in Chicago was disrupted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Market overview

Major conventions are held at

McCormick Place McCormick Place is the largest convention center in North America. It consists of four interconnected buildings and one indoor arena sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, about south of downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States. McCor ...

. The historic

Chicago Cultural Center The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building operated by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed preside ...

(1897) serves as the city's Visitor Information Center. Tourists will find sites of interest in Grant Park which contains

Buckingham Fountain Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago Landmark in the center of Grant Park, between Queen's Landing and Ida B. Wells Drive. Dedicated in 1927 and donated to the city by philanthropist Kate S. Buckingham, it is one of the largest fountains in the ...

(1927), and the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. Millennium Park's

Cloud Gate ''Cloud Gate'' is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, that is the centerpiece of AT&T Plaza at Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The sculpture and AT&T Plaza are located on top of Pa ...

sculpture and fountain's two towers incorporate LED facial images. Events such as the

Grant Park Music Festival The Grant Park Music Festival (formerly the Grant Park Concerts) is a ten-week classical music concert series held annually in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It features the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Grant Park Chorus along with guest ...

take place in the city. Chicago performing arts venues include the Harris Theater for Music and Dance and the

Chicago Opera Theater The Chicago Opera Theater (COT) is an American opera company based in Chicago, Illinois. COT is a resident company at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago's Millennium Park and is currently in residence at the newly renovated Studeb ...

Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of parks, gardens, shops, restaurants, famil ...

, east of

Streeterville Streeterville is a neighborhood in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, north of the Chicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue on the west, and ...

, contains retail, restaurants, museums, exhibition halls and auditoriums. Its 15 story

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules ...

is among the most visited landmarks with about 8 million visitors each year. The city's

Museum Campus Museum Campus is a park in Chicago that sits alongside Lake Michigan in Grant Park and encompasses five of the city's most notable attractions: the Adler Planetarium, America's first planetarium; the Shedd Aquarium; the Field Museum of Natural ...

, holds: the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

, and the

Shedd Aquarium Shedd Aquarium (formally the John G. Shedd Aquarium) is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Opened on May 30, 1930, the aquarium was for some time the largest indoor facility in the world. Today it holds about ...

. The Museum Campus accesses the

in Grant Park. The Museum of Science and Industry is also a leading attraction. About one-third of Chicago's tourists enjoy the city's entertainment venues including

and the

Chicago Theatre The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban an ...

Choose Chicago

Choose Chicago is the official tourism organization for the city. In January 2012, Mayor

Emanuel Emanuel may refer to: * Emanuel (name), a given name and surname (see there for a list of people with this name) * Emanuel School, Australia, Sydney, Australia * Emanuel School, Battersea, London, England * Emanuel (band), a five-piece rock band fr ...

launched Chicago's new tourism organization, Choose Chicago. The Mayor's vision was to restructure all tourism sales and marketing activities under a single, streamlined agency, and outline clear and measurable objectives to track these efforts. Choose Chicago partners with the

Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, commonly known as MPEA or McPier, is a corporation that owns Navy Pier and McCormick Place in Chicago. It also manages the city's collection of taxes for vehicles picking up passengers (including lim ...

, the Chicago Office of Tourism, the City of Chicago, and the

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is the code department of the Illinois state government that sponsors statewide economic development, with special emphases on increasing minority entrepreneurship, promoting the ...

's Bureau of Tourism, as well as many other related associations in Chicago. It handles convention sales for

and

. The former Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau was founded in 1970 with the merger of the Chicago Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Tourism Council of Greater Chicago. The Chicago North Shore Convention and Visitor's Bureau serves Evanston, Glenview, Northbrook and Skokie. The offices of the CNSCVB are located in downtown Skokie, Illinois. The Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau serves the 62 south and southwest suburbs of Chicago. Their office is in Lansing, Illinois.

Attractions

Architecture of Chicago The buildings and architecture of Chicago reflect the city's history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles. Most structures downtown were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 (an exception being th ...

Beaches in Chicago The beaches in Chicago are an extensive network of waterfront recreational areas operated by the Chicago Park District. The Chicago metropolitan waterfront includes parts of the Lake Michigan shores as well as parts of the banks of the Chicag ...

List of Chicago Landmarks Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor of Chicago, Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, ...

List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago The city of Chicago, Illinois, has many cultural institutions and museums, large and small. Major cultural institutions include: *the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Lyric Opera of Chicago ...

* McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink *

Parks in Chicago Parks in Chicago include open spaces and facilities, developed and managed by the Chicago Park District. The City of Chicago devotes 8.5% of its total land acreage to parkland, which ranked it 13th among high-density population cities in the Unit ...

Sports in Chicago Sports in Chicago include many professional sports teams. Chicago is one of ten U.S. cities to have teams from the five major American professional team sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer). Chicago has been named as the "Best ...

Theatre in Chicago Theater in Chicago describes not only theater performed in Chicago, Illinois, but also to the movement in Chicago that saw a number of small, meagerly funded companies grow to institutions of national and international significance. Chicago ha ...

Shopping

Magnificent Mile The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is an upscale section of Chicago's Michigan Avenue, running from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side. The district is located within downtown, and one block ...

* State Street

Gallery

File:Navy pier.jpg, Old

File:Downtown Chicago Illinois Nov05 img 2607.jpg, The

shopping, restaurants, and the landmark

Chicago Water Tower The Chicago Water Tower is a contributing property and landmark in the Old Chicago Water Tower District in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built to enclose the tall machinery of a powe ...

References

External links

Choose Chicago
''official Chicago Tourism website''
Chicago's North Shore Convention & Visitors Bureau

Tourism Chicago
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