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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION 133
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2 | WHEREAS, Tourism is a crucial and growing component of the | ||||||
3 | Illinois economy; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, It is an established State policy to recognize and | ||||||
5 | support the economic impact of tourism,
particularly to Chicago | ||||||
6 | where the greatest potential economic impact for the State can | ||||||
7 | be enjoyed; and | ||||||
8 | WHEREAS, In order to
dramatically increase the economic | ||||||
9 | impact of tourism, Choose Chicago has recently announced an | ||||||
10 | ambitious goal of 50 million annual visitors to
Chicago and has | ||||||
11 | placed Chicago in the expected top 5 U.S. destinations for | ||||||
12 | international travel by 2020; and | ||||||
13 | WHEREAS, It is in the interest of the entire State of | ||||||
14 | Illinois to help reach that goal of 50 million annual
visitors | ||||||
15 | to Chicago by 2020; and | ||||||
16 | WHEREAS, Increasing visitors to Chicago has a secondary | ||||||
17 | benefit of exposing those visitors to
potential trips | ||||||
18 | throughout Illinois; and | ||||||
19 | WHEREAS, Most tourists to Illinois come from the Midwest as | ||||||
20 | the top 5 states providing visitors to
Illinois in 2011 were |
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1 | Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Missouri, | ||||||
2 | according to the Department
of Commerce and Economic | ||||||
3 | Opportunity's 2011 Economic Impact of Tourism report; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, Illinois hosted 93.3 million visitors in 2011, a | ||||||
5 | 10% increase aver 2010, fueled by an
11.8% increase in leisure | ||||||
6 | travel according to the same report; and | ||||||
7 | WHEREAS, Because most of our visitors come from the Midwest | ||||||
8 | now, the most likely source for
finding additional tourists to | ||||||
9 | achieve the goal of 50 million annual visitors to Chicago is | ||||||
10 | from the states
in the Midwest; and | ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, The residents of many smaller communities in the | ||||||
12 | Midwest who are the target market for
tourists do not have | ||||||
13 | access to affordable, frequent, convenient flights to Chicago, | ||||||
14 | either because there
isn't a nearby airport or because the | ||||||
15 | flights from their airport to Chicago are not affordable, | ||||||
16 | frequent, or
convenient; and | ||||||
17 | WHEREAS, Driving more than 100 miles can be very | ||||||
18 | inconvenient, particularly due to the relatively
high cost of | ||||||
19 | parking in Chicago (especially compared to the low-cost or | ||||||
20 | no-cost of parking in much of the
Midwest) and the significant | ||||||
21 | traffic congestion around Chicago; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, Many downstate communities with tourist | ||||||
2 | attractions do not have any air service at all,
requiring an | ||||||
3 | alternative way of bringing tourists to their communities; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has been a leader in | ||||||
5 | investing in Amtrak to provide more intercity
passenger train | ||||||
6 | service, doubling the frequency of round-trips in 2006 and | ||||||
7 | investing State funds in
improving the infrastructure of the | ||||||
8 | St. Louis-Springfield-Normal-Joliet-Chicago line; and | ||||||
9 | WHEREAS, Ridership on Amtrak service has broken records | ||||||
10 | every year for the last 5 years; and | ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, A majority of Amtrak riders on weekends, and a | ||||||
12 | significant amount on weekdays, are not
business travelers but | ||||||
13 | are rather leisure travelers or traveling to visit family or | ||||||
14 | friends, according to a
State-authorized 2011 survey of | ||||||
15 | passengers aboard the Milwaukee-Chicago Amtrak Hiawatha | ||||||
16 | service;
therefore, be it | ||||||
17 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
18 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
19 | we fully support the goal of 50 million annual visitors to | ||||||
20 | Chicago by 2020; and be it further | ||||||
21 | RESOLVED, That we recognize that the majority of these |
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1 | additional tourists
are likely to come from the Midwest; and be | ||||||
2 | it further | ||||||
3 | RESOLVED, That the easiest way to get tourists from the | ||||||
4 | Midwest to visit Chicago is
to make it easier for tourists from | ||||||
5 | the Midwest to visit Chicago; and be it further | ||||||
6 | RESOLVED, That we call upon all other stakeholders in the | ||||||
7 | tourism
economy to recognize that offering more affordable, | ||||||
8 | frequent, convenient passenger train service, both
through | ||||||
9 | expanding Amtrak and through new high speed rail connecting | ||||||
10 | midwest communities to
Chicago is a crucial strategy to reach | ||||||
11 | our economic goal of 5O million annual visitors to Chicago by
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12 | 2020.
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