City of Elmhurst
Guests checking into of the City of Elmhurst’s four hotel–Courtyard by Marriott, Extended Stay America, Clarion Hotel Conference Center and SpringHill Suites by Marriott–not only enjoy a great stay, they also contribute to the City’s visitor and tourism initiatives.
Elmhurst funds a variety of activities to enhance tourism, cultural life and commerce using a portion of the fund generated by a room rental tax (4%) at the four hotels, as much as $600,000 annually.
Hotel/motel tax revenue generates funding for the City’s Explore Elmhurst initiatives such as the summer Express trolley campaign and Community Grant Program, which provides financial support to the museums, parades and special events.
County of DuPage
DuPage County ranks second to the City of Chicago/Cook County in the state for generating revenue from conventions, business meetings and vacation travel–a tax savings of more than $1,300 for an average family in DuPage County.
According to the DuPage Convention & Visitors Bureau, meeting attendees and other visitors–such as vacationers and guests at family and class reunions, weddings, sports tournaments and such–contributed a record $2.513 billions to the state’s economy in Fiscal Year 2016, an increase of 1.5% over 2015’s revenue.
Visitor spending in DuPage in 2016 produced $187.23 million in tax receipts, generating $142.23 million for the state and $45 million for the county. The state and county tax dollars grew by 3.7% and 6.1%, respectively, compared to 2015.
In DuPage, some $688 million in payroll and 23,000 hospitality jobs in 2016 were attributed to serving our guests, increases of 6.2% and 3%, respectively, over 2015.
State of Illinois
According to the Illinois Office of Tourism, every $1 spent on meeting or visitor promotion generates $9 in collected in state and local sales tax revenue.
In 2016, Illinois welcomed 110.1 million domestic visitors (one million more than in 2015), generating $35.1 billion in spending (up 1.8%) and $2.6 billion in state and local tax revenue (an increase of $106 million).
Of those domestic visitors, 17% traveled to Illinois on business and 83% came to our state on leisure trips.
Tourism in Illinois also ranks as one of the state’s largest employers, with some 302,400 jobs in 2016 directly related to meetings and visitor industry.
United States of America
According to the U.S. Travel Association, meeting planning and production, venue rental and other non-travel commodities account for the majority of direct spending, while lodging, food and transportation cover the remaining expenditures.