Making Chicago a premier destination for tourism and entertainment is a major part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Plan for Economic Growth & Jobs that WBC is implementing to drive growth in Chicago. Choose Chicago, the official destination marketing organization for Chicago, also plays an integral role in economic growth by attracting business and leisure visitors to the city.

In May, Chicago hosted the 2015 James Beard Foundation Awards, dubbed “the Oscars of the food world.” Following the event’s success, which welcomed 2,500 of the nation’s top chefs, restaurateurs, and culinary leaders, Mayor Emanuel announced in a press release that Chicago will welcome “this most prestigious of events for two more years.”

The following points summarize recent hotel and air passenger trends for Chicago:

• Chicago’s overall hotel occupancy rate was 86.0% in May, up 0.8 percentage points from 85.2% in May 2014.
• The overall average daily rate (ADR) was $254.88 in May, up from $227.49 a year ago.
• The Chicago Central Business District has 111 hotel properties comprising more than 38,000rooms. Recently opened hotels include the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel (241 rooms), AC by Marriott (217 rooms), and Freehand Hotel & Hostel (215 rooms).
• More than 2,500 new rooms are expected to open in the next two years, including the Kimpton Hotel (281 rooms, 2016), Nobu Hotel (93 rooms, 2016) and Marriott Marquis McCormick Place (1,200 rooms, 2017).
• O’Hare – the world’s busiest airport in terms of flight operations – and Midway International airports served a combined 8.12 million air passengers in April 2015, a 7.9% increase year-over-year.

Hotel average daily rate (ADR) and occupancy trends are illustrated in the following charts:

Sources: Choose Chicago and the Chicago Department of Aviation. For more information on Chicago’s tourism landscape, please refer to the Choose Chicago website and 2014 Annual Report.

Chaired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, World Business Chicago is the public-private partnership leading the Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs in order to drive business development, cultivate talent, and put Chicago at the forefront of the global economy.

WBC’s “Economic Briefs” track indicators from month to month to gauge the strength of several aspects of Chicago’s economy, including unemployment, population, venture capital, job openings and new hires, home sales, tourism, etc. This data provides a clear analytic framework for specific Plan strategies and initiatives. For a summary of these and other economic indicators, refer to WBC’s monthly Chicago By The Numbers.