Skip to main content

Increase in visitors boosts economy of Aurora area



Visitors to the Aurora area generated $268 million of local economic impact and added to the increase in tourism in Illinois during 2022.

That was the word recently from the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, quoting data from Tourism Economics, a global tourism research firm which measured the number of visitors and their impact on the Illinois economy during 2022.

In addition, this boost in tourism in the Aurora area contributed $13 million in local tax revenue while directly supporting 3,000 jobs in the tourism and hospitality industry in the region, a 10% increase from 2021, the company said.

The Aurora area welcomed 1.4 million visitors in 2022, the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau said.

Statewide, Illinois reached its highest-ever hotel revenue figures in fiscal year 2023, which takes in about half of calendar year 2022, according to the office of Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Locally, the Fox Valley Park District's Stuart Sports Complex on Jericho Road has become one of the Midwest's top destinations for youth and amateur sports, officials said.

The 380-acre complex in Montgomery welcomed more than 660,000 players, coaches and spectators to weekend baseball and soccer tournaments during its 2022 athletic season, which runs April 1 through Oct. 31, officials said.

In August, Pritzker announced that Illinois reached its highest-ever hotel revenue figures in fiscal year 2023 at $308 million, surpassing the pre-pandemic record in fiscal year 2019.

Illinois welcomed 111 million visitors last year, representing 14 million additional travelers over 2021. In addition, visitor spending surged to $44 billion in 2022 in the state - $12 billion over calendar year 2021 and 97% of record 2019 levels, according to officials.

As a result of tourist spending and visits in 2022, the overall economic impact in Illinois amounted to $78 billion, a 30% increase from 2021 figures of $60 billion, according to officials.

"Tourism is a key economic driver for our state, contributing to the growth of small businesses while generating jobs for our local communities," said Kristin Richards, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity director. "Illinois has made unprecedented investments in travel and tourism and we're excited to build upon this record-breaking progress as we continue to promote Illinois and support the industry."

Daniel Thomas, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism, deputy director, said the state's "Middle of Everything" campaign, launched in 2022, generated $10 in state and local tax revenue for every $1 spent.

EnjoyAurora.com, the convention and visitors bureau website, had 505,000 views in 2022, a 14% increase from 2021, officials said.

To get a copy of the Aurora Area Go Guide, available in print and online, go to www.EnjoyAurora.com.

The Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the region as an overnight destination.

The bureau's region is made up of Aurora, Batavia, Big Rock, Hinckley, Montgomery, North Aurora, Oswego, Plano, Sugar Grove and Yorkville.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Osho Quotes on Meditation

Osho Quotes on Meditation If tea-drinking can become a meditation, then anything can become a meditation — cooking or washing your clothes, any activity can be transformed into meditation. And the real sannyasin, the real seeker, will transform all his acts into meditation. Only then, when meditation spreads over all your life, not only when you are awake in the day — slowly slowly it starts penetrating and permeating your being in sleep too — when it becomes just part of you, like breathing, like your heartbeat, then, only, have you attained to the discipline, to the essential discipline of Zen. Meditation means: drop all thoughts, drop all ideologies, drop all knowledge. Drop the mind itself. The mind is constantly talking. If the inner talk can drop even for a single moment you will be able to have a glimpse of no-mind. That’s what meditation is all about. The state of no-mind is the right state. It is your state. Millions of people miss meditation because meditation has taken on
2 comments
Read more

33 Crore Gods (Devi / Devtas) of Hindus

33 Crore Gods of Hindus For the believers of God, it is an accepted faith across the globe that God is one. Hindus too believe so, but then there remains a question often shaped as a mockery over Hindus about the various practices of worship rendered to innumerous God in their faith. And this question is often thrown by people, who are philosophically and religiously recognized. How come Hindu religion has 33 crore Gods? Is it sensible at all to believe and practice this? I have a question – How can one decide what is sensible and what is not, particularly when none of those great thinkers have attained perfection in realization of God, none of them have seen God, none of them have heard God. There are numerous instances where religion, religious books and their beliefs have tried to define God. Criticism is an easy thing to do but we have coins with two sides always. Realization of the positive side and its practice is not only hard to recognize but difficult to accept as well. Critic
3 comments
Read more

Osho on Witnessing technique

Osho on Witnessing technique – You can witness breathing, you can witness the thought process in OSHO INSIGHTS ON MEDITATION Osho – Societies will come and go. You will take birth and you will die and many lives will come and go, and many, many clouds will pass through you. But the inner sky – AKSHAT – remains uncorrupted, virgin. But you can become identified with clouds. You can begin to feel that ”I am the clouds”. Everyone is identified with his own thoughts which are nothing more than clouds. You say, ”my thought,” and if someone attacks your thought, you never feel that your thought is being attacked – you are being attacked. The sky is fighting – fighting for clouds because some cloud has been attacked. The sky feels, ”I am attacked!” The sky was there when there was no cloud, the sky will be there when there is no cloud. Clouds add nothing to the sky. And when clouds are no more, nothing is lost. The sky remains itself totally. This is the nature – the inner sky, the inn
Post a Comment
Read more