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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Tourism is a crucial component of the Illinois | ||||||
3 | economy; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, Chicago tourism is the largest source of tourism | ||||||
5 | in Illinois; and | ||||||
6 | WHEREAS, It is an established State policy to support | ||||||
7 | tourism for economic development, particularly
to Chicago | ||||||
8 | where the greatest potential economic impact for the State can | ||||||
9 | be enjoyed; and | ||||||
10 | WHEREAS, Choose Chicago has recently announced an | ||||||
11 | audacious goal of 75 million annual visitors
to Chicago in | ||||||
12 | order to dramatically increase the economic impact of tourism; | ||||||
13 | and | ||||||
14 | WHEREAS, It is in the interest of the entire State of | ||||||
15 | Illinois to help reach that goal of 75 million annual
visitors | ||||||
16 | to Chicago; and | ||||||
17 | WHEREAS, Increasing visitors to Chicago has a secondary | ||||||
18 | benefit of exposing those visitors to
potential trips | ||||||
19 | throughout Illinois; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, Choose Chicago is currently conducting a public | ||||||
2 | discussion on innovative methods to hit
the goal of 75 million | ||||||
3 | annual visitors to Chicago; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, Most tourists to Illinois come from the midwest as | ||||||
5 | the top 5 states providing visitors to
Illinois in 2011 were | ||||||
6 | Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Missouri, | ||||||
7 | according to the Department
of Commerce and Economic | ||||||
8 | Opportunity's 2011 Economic Impact of Tourism report; and | ||||||
9 | WHEREAS, Illinois hosted 93.3 million visitors in 2011, a | ||||||
10 | 10% increase over 2010, fueled by an
11.8% increase in leisure | ||||||
11 | travel according to the same report; and | ||||||
12 | WHEREAS, The most likely market for additional tourists | ||||||
13 | coming to Chicago is the 500 mile radius
around Chicago in the | ||||||
14 | midwest; and | ||||||
15 | WHEREAS, Many smaller communities in the 500 mile radius | ||||||
16 | around Chicago in the midwest do not
have access to affordable, | ||||||
17 | frequent, or convenient flights to Chicago, either because | ||||||
18 | there isn't a nearby
airport or because the flights from their | ||||||
19 | airport are not affordable, frequent, or convenient; and | ||||||
20 | WHEREAS, Driving more than 100 miles can be very | ||||||
21 | inconvenient, particularly due to the relatively
high cost of |
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1 | parking in Chicago (especially compared to the low or no-cost | ||||||
2 | for parking in much of the
midwest); and
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3 | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has been a leader in | ||||||
4 | investing in Amtrak to provide more intercity
passenger train | ||||||
5 | service, doubling the frequency of round-trips in 2006 and | ||||||
6 | investing State funds in
improving the infrastructure of the | ||||||
7 | Saint Louis-Springfield-Normal-Joliet-Chicago line; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Ridership on Amtrak service has broken records | ||||||
9 | every year for the last 5 years; and
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10 | WHEREAS, A majority of Amtrak riders on weekends, and a | ||||||
11 | significant amount on weekdays, are not
business travelers but | ||||||
12 | are rather leisure travelers or traveling to visit family or | ||||||
13 | friends according to a
State-authored 2011 survey of passengers | ||||||
14 | aboard the Milwaukee-Chicago Amtrak Hiawatha service; | ||||||
15 | therefore, be it
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16 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
17 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
18 | we fully support the goal of 75 million annual visitors to | ||||||
19 | Chicago; and be it further
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20 | RESOLVED, That we call attention to the crucial role that | ||||||
21 | transportation
plays in bringing these new tourists to Chicago |
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1 | from, primarily, the rest of the midwest; and be it further
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2 | RESOLVED, That the easiest way to get tourists from the | ||||||
3 | midwest to visit Chicago is
to make it easier for tourists from | ||||||
4 | the midwest to get to Chicago; and be it further
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5 | RESOLVED, That we call upon all other stakeholders in the | ||||||
6 | tourism
economy to recognize that offering more affordable, | ||||||
7 | frequent, and convenient train travel throughout the
midwest to | ||||||
8 | Chicago is a crucial strategy to reach our goal of 75 million | ||||||
9 | annual visitors to Chicago.
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