As DNC Approaches, Chicago Preps For A Tourism Close-Up. Will Crime, Migrant Crisis Mar The Picture?

Chicago tourism is riding a high as it hurtles toward its moment on one of the biggest stages in the nation, next summer's Democratic National Convention. Hotel revenue and occupancy are up, and the city is on track to record its most profitable visitor year since the pandemic began.

But Chicago's marquee moment comes as it confronts rising crime statistics, a growing migrant crisis and a political effort to paint the city as a destination best avoided. The industry is going all-out to keep the momentum going, though some worry the combination of hits risks leaving a mark.

Hotel revenue from June through August totaled $825M, according to Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism arm — an all-time record for summer months, albeit one that isn’t adjusted for inflation. More than a million room nights were filled each month this summer, totaling 3.24 million hotel room nights all season, a 4% jump over last year and a 92% recovery share compared to 2019.

The bombshell summer continued an already-strong 2023. Year-to-date hotel room demand is 13% higher than the same period in 2022, per Choose Chicago. Through the first half of 2023, hotel revenue sat at a record $1.12B, up 24% over the same period last year and up 2% from the midyear point in 2019.

Choose Chicago CEO Lynn Osmond said driving factors behind the summer boom included a strong convention season and several marquee events. The inaugural NASCAR Chicago Street Race zoomed through city streets, music festival stalwarts Lollapalooza and Pitchfork drew scores of attendees, and Taylor Swift made the summer anything but cruel at Soldier Field. 

First Hospitality Vice President of Commercial Strategy Jenna Fishel said Chicago tourism has paced ahead of national averages on the back of robust leisure demand and projections indicate that growth will continue into 2025. 

“Chicago has also always done a great job attracting leisure visitors, [with] great restaurants. It feels clean, it's a vibrant city,” Fishel said. “Leisure has been the trend nationally, and Chicago did a great job of attracting them this year.”

Amid optimism that these trends portend a bright future for the city's hospitality industry, especially in the lead-up to the all-eyes-on-Chicago DNC, the city is facing headwinds from external actors that could gum up the works. The spotlight is already beginning to shine brightly on the city’s issues handling migrants and crime ahead of the August 2024 event, though concern it could dim tourism prospects varies among industry players. 

Maverick Hotels and Restaurants CEO Bob Habeeb said other cities have struggled with tourism numbers in the past when conversations about crime became loud enough to drive people away in large numbers.

“It's logical to believe that at some point it has to impact the numbers,” Habeeb said. “If that vibe, if you will, gets to where people are afraid to come here, it transitions from just being something that's been talked about to being a prime decision factor.”

Others are keeping a watchful eye but not panicking. Tom Hazinski was more skeptical that the narrative outside actors are pushing about the city would have a tangible impact on tourism. HVS’ managing director for Chicago conventions, sports and entertainment said the perception of the issues is divorced from the reality of what’s going on. 

“[If] Chicago were so crime-ridden that it were affecting tourism, tourism wouldn't have recovered the way it has,” Hazinski said. “I really don't think that's a primary deterrent to tourism as much as there's media hype over it and certain political forces that are trying to describe these wonderful cities we have as ‘hellholes.’ I just think that narrative keeps bumping up against reality and has no staying power.”

That hasn't stopped Congressional Republicans from outside the state from seeking to politically capitalize on some of the city’s problems. In September, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan held a hearing on crime at the Fraternal Order of Police headquarters in the West Loop, focusing on the political failings that have led to the city's crime issues, NBC Chicago reported. 

“If you stop to think about it, it was ‘defund the police’ under the former mayor,” the Ohio Republican said, per NBC Chicago. “Now it’s the SAFE-T Act, then it’s a prosecutor who won’t prosecute the bad guys. All that leads to the situation we see today.”

Diving into the city’s crime statistics by year-over-year percentage change paints a mixed picture. On one hand, shootings are down in almost every Chicago neighborhood. On the other, robberies have increased in a majority of neighborhoods and are up significantly from any of the past five years.

Additionally, with many months to go before the DNC, Chicago is already dealing with an influx of migrants flooding into the city. As of Thursday, more than 17,000 had arrived in the city since August 2022, per NBC Chicago. 

A lack of accommodations has stretched police stations, created an ad hoc shelter at O'Hare International Airport's Terminal 1 that has housed as many as 500, and prompted Mayor Brandon Johnson to propose winterized tent cities as a stopgap solution.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week asked the federal government for assistance in handling the influx in a letter addressed to President Joe Biden. In the letter, Pritzker asked for the federal government to provide financial support to states, local governments and nongovernmental associations for temporary housing, food and social services, as well as “significant increases” in logistical coordination and data collection.

“As the numbers being transported to Chicago are accelerating, the humanitarian crisis is overwhelming our ability to provide aid to the refugee population,” Pritzker wrote. “Unfortunately, the welcome and aid Illinois has been providing to these asylum seekers has not been matched with support by the federal government. Most critically, the federal government's lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois.” 

Johnson is also planning to visit the border soon to assess the migrant crisis, Block Club Chicago reports.

Those invested in Chicago tourism say the city will have to get a handle on these two hot-button issues before it hosts the DNC, which it has done twice in the past 60 years with mixed outcomes. 

In 1968, the DNC was overshadowed by clashes that broke out between demonstrators and police. Protesters gathered outside the convention hall to oppose the Vietnam War and were met with violence, tear gas and arrests — a spectacle that seriously tarnished the city's image.

“The city of Chicago runs the city of Prague a close second right now as the world’s least attractive tourist attraction,” commentator Eric Sevareid said on CBS in 1968. 

In terms of nationwide visibility, there could be more similarities between the 1968 event and the present than meets the eye should the event turn turbulent.

“You'd have these protests that were concentrated on a few blocks in the city, and every news outlet in the world was there filming,” Habeeb said. “And now, with social media, every incident that occurs on every street corner, there's someone who is filming it and then posting it on social media. ... We're getting real-time visuals of it, and that could pander to this notion, right? These people look at it, they say, ‘My gosh, I'm seeing it with my own eyes. It's not a statistic.’”

The 1996 United Center event ran more smoothly as then-President Bill Clinton won the nomination for his re-election campaign. 

Though the DNC will likely get more media attention from across the country than any other major Chicago event in 2024, it isn't even the biggest event the city will host within the span of a month. The International Manufacturing Technology Show will come to town just a couple of weeks later, boasting a projected attendance of 110,000 — more than double the size of the DNC, Choose Chicago's Osmond said.  

That said, tourism officials are working hard behind the scenes to manage the DNC to ensure the city is seen in a positive light and that visitor figures and revenue momentum continue growing into 2024. 

Representatives from each state will be assigned a hotel for the DNC based on delegation size and price point, and unlike some other recent convention cities, they will all be in downtown hotels, Osmond said. Representatives have previously been put up in hotels by airports or even in other states. While the pandemic forced the 2020 DNC in Milwaukee to largely go virtual, had it gone to plan, Illinois would have housed some of the representatives, Osmond said. 

“Leading up to the DNC, we're working with the DNC themselves to really ensure that we're on top of this,” Choose Chicago Director of Corporate Communications Isaac Reichman said. “We're not sitting back and just saying, ‘Let people come at Chicago. We're not ready for it.’ We're really going to be putting a coordinated communications plan [in place] to highlight the best of Chicago.

“The hope, then, is that the best of Chicago will drown out these bad actors that are trying to disparage our city.”

The strategy includes identifying positive news stories that aren’t getting as much national play as the city's crime and migrant issues, like the success of Chicago’s festivals, international travel to the Chicago Marathon, businesses relocating to the city and Chicago’s sustainability practices, Osmond said. 

In that vein, Pritzker and Johnson last week announced the formation of the Chicagoland Climate Investment Alliance, a multiparty effort to support the commercialization of climate technologies and address climate challenges through technology and innovation. Chicago was also named the best big city in the U.S. by readers of Condé Nast Traveler for the seventh straight year on Oct. 3. 

Osmond said Choose Chicago is prepared to put on a successful event, though the organization recognizes protests or comments from rogue politicians could be roadblocks. 

“Internally, I think we can do this with one hand tied behind our back. We do it all the time,” Osmond said. “It's the external forces that you can't predict.”