Chicago Visitor Spending Hits Record $21.5 Billion as Tourism Rebounds

Overview

• Choose Chicago disclosed Thursday that the city welcomed 56.8 million visitors in 2025 and that those visitors spent a record $21.5 billion.
• The tourism report said spending supported more than 135,000 local jobs and that hotels generated $2.9 billion in revenue, producing about $161.1 million in city tax receipts.
• Domestic travel led the rebound with roughly 40.7 million U.S. leisure visitors and an increase in hotel bookings to 11.9 million room nights, up from 11.6 million in 2024.
• International visitors fell to about 1.9 million in 2025, an 8% drop from 2024, even as Choose Chicago secured a record 65 citywide conventions and a slate of major upcoming events.
• City and industry leaders are weighing policy steps to sustain growth, including a proposed tourism improvement district that would add a 1.5% short-term room fee on large downtown hotels to raise roughly $40 million a year for promotion; the report notes 2019’s 61 million visitors as the pre-pandemic benchmark.