Tourism in Chicago draws on the city's

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

museums A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

, restaurants,

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

, parks and

beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

and wide variety of neighborhood attractions. In 2017,

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near t ...

alone saw 25 million visitors, making it the top tourist destination in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

and among the top ten in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 2023, Chicago saw 51.96 million tourist arrivals, and tourism expenditure set a new record at $19.2 billion. Of these, 1.83 million were international visitors. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, tourist arrivals had peaked at 61.58 million people in 2019.

Market overview

Major conventions are held at

McCormick Place McCormick Place is a convention center in Chicago. It is the largest convention center in North America. It consists of four interconnected buildings and one indoor arena sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, about south of the Chicago ...

. The historic Chicago Cultural Center (1897) serves as the city's Visitor Information Center. Tourists will find sites of interest in Grant Park which contains

, Buckingham Fountain (1927), and the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

. Millennium Park's

Cloud Gate ''Cloud Gate'' is a public art, public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, that is the centerpiece of Grainger Plaza at Millennium Park in the Chicago Loop, Loop community area of Chicago. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, t ...

sculpture and fountain's two towers incorporate LED facial images. Events such as the Grant Park Music Festival take place in the city. Chicago performing arts venues include the Harris Theater for Music and Dance and the Chicago Opera Theater.

Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of shops, restaura ...

, east of

Streeterville Streeterville is a neighborhood in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, north of the Chicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan ...

, contains retail, restaurants, museums, exhibition halls and auditoriums. Its 15-story

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...

is among the most visited landmarks with about 8 million visitors each year. The city's Museum Campus, holds: the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

, and the

Shedd Aquarium Shedd Aquarium (formally the John G. Shedd Aquarium) is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago. Opened on May 30, 1930, the aquarium holds about 32,000 animals. It is the third largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere (after the Georgia Aquariu ...

. The Museum Campus accesses the

in Grant Park. The Museum of Science and Industry is also a leading attraction. About one-third of Chicago's tourists enjoy the city's entertainment venues including

and the

Chicago Theatre The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark Theater (structure), theater located on North State Street (Chicago), State Street in the Loop, Chicago, Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 19 ...

Choose Chicago

Choose Chicago is the official tourism organization for the city. In January 2012, then-Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

launched Chicago's new tourism organization, Choose Chicago. The Mayor's vision was to restructure all tourism sales and marketing activities under a single, streamlined agency, and outline clear and measurable objectives to track these efforts. Choose Chicago partners with the

Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, commonly known as MPEA or McPier, is a corporation that owns Navy Pier and McCormick Place in Chicago. It also manages the city's collection of taxes for vehicles picking up passengers (including ...

, the Chicago Office of Tourism, the City of Chicago, and the

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity ttps://dceo.illinois.gov/smallbizassistance/beginhere/businessinformationcenter.html Business Information Center The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is the code department of the Illinois state government that spons ...

's Bureau of Tourism, as well as many other related associations in Chicago. It handles convention sales for

and

Attractions

* Architecture of Chicago * Beaches in Chicago * List of Chicago Landmarks *

List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago The city of Chicago, Illinois, has many cultural institutions and museums, large and small. Major cultural institutions include: *the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Lyric Opera of Chica ...

* McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink * Parks in Chicago * Sports in Chicago * Theatre in Chicago *

Magnificent Mile The Magnificent Mile (sometimes locally abbreviated to the Mag Mile) is the approximately one-mile-long stretch of Michigan Avenue (Chicago), Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River to Oak Street (Chicago), Oak Street on the Near North Side ...

* State Street

Gallery

File:Chicago (22332583569).jpg, John Hancock Building File:Navy pier.jpg,

File:Downtown Chicago Illinois Nov05 img 2607.jpg, The

shopping district and landmark

Chicago Water Tower The Chicago Water Tower is a contributing property and landmark in the Old Chicago Water Tower District in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built to enclose the tall machinery of a po ...

File:Oak Street Beach.jpg, Oak Street Beach File:Frederick C. Robie House.JPG,

Robie House The Robie House (also the Frederick C. Robie House) is a historic house museum on the campus of the University of Chicago in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Designed by the architect Frank Llo ...

Image:Wrigley Field - by Kaczmarczyk.jpg,

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

File:20070516 Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool.jpg, Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool File:The Art museum at the end of the street in Chicago (2336686726) (1).jpg,

File:Lyric Opera of Chicago interior.jpg, Lyric Opera House Image:Cbot-close-night.jpg, Chicago Board of Trade Building Chicago - Shedd aquarium (2379489501).jpg,

File:Texaco No.13.jpg, Museum of Science and Industry File:Chicago Theater - day.jpg,

Chicago Theater The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark Theater (structure), theater located on North State Street (Chicago), State Street in the Loop, Chicago, Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 19 ...

file:Parkpagoda.jpg, Ping Tom Memorial Park File:Nuclear Energy Henry Moore.JPG, Site of first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction

References

External links

Choose Chicago
''official Chicago Tourism website''
Chicago's North Shore Convention & Visitors Bureau

Tourism Chicago
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