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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 133

2    AMENDMENT NO. ___. Amend House Resolution 133 by replacing
3everything after the heading with the following:
 
4    "WHEREAS, Tourism is a crucial and growing component of the
5Illinois economy; and
 
6    WHEREAS, It is an established State policy to recognize and
7support the economic impact of tourism, particularly to Chicago
8where the greatest potential economic impact for the State can
9be enjoyed; and
 
10    WHEREAS, In order to dramatically increase the economic
11impact of tourism, Choose Chicago has recently announced an
12ambitious goal of 50 million annual visitors to Chicago and has
13placed Chicago in the expected top 5 U.S. destinations for
14international travel by 2020; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, It is in the interest of the entire State of
2Illinois to help reach that goal of 50 million annual visitors
3to Chicago by 2020; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Increasing visitors to Chicago has a secondary
5benefit of exposing those visitors to potential trips
6throughout Illinois; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Most tourists to Illinois come from the midwest as
8the top 5 states providing visitors to Illinois in 2011 were
9Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Missouri,
10according to the Department of Commerce and Economic
11Opportunity's 2011 Economic Impact of Tourism report; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Illinois hosted 93.3 million visitors in 2011, a
1310% increase aver 2010, fueled by an 11.8% increase in leisure
14travel according to the same report; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Because most of our visitors come from the midwest
16now, the most likely source for finding additional tourists to
17achieve the goal of 50 million annual visitors to Chicago is
18from the states in the midwest; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The residents of many smaller communities in the
20midwest who are the target market for tourists do not have
21access to affordable, frequent, convenient flights to Chicago,

 

 

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1either because there isn't a nearby airport or because the
2flights from their airport to Chicago are not affordable,
3frequent, or convenient; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Driving more than 100 miles can be very
5inconvenient, particularly due to the relatively high cost of
6parking in Chicago (especially compared to the low-cost or
7no-cost of parking in much of the midwest) and the significant
8traffic congestion around Chicago; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Many downstate communities with tourist
10attractions do not have any air service at all, requiring an
11alternative way of bringing tourists to their communities; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has been a leader in
13investing in Amtrak to provide more intercity passenger train
14service, doubling the frequency of round-trips in 2006 and
15investing State funds in improving the infrastructure of the
16St. Louis-Springfield-Normal-Joliet-Chicago line; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Ridership on Amtrak service has broken records
18every year for the last 5 years; and
 
19    WHEREAS, A majority of Amtrak riders on weekends and a
20significant amount on weekdays, are not business travelers but
21are rather leisure travelers or traveling to visit family or

 

 

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1friends, according to a State-authorized 2011 survey of
2passengers aboard the Milwaukee-Chicago Amtrak Hiawatha
3service; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
5NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
6we fully support the goal of 50 million annual visitors to
7Chicago by 2020; and be it further
 
8    RESOLVED, That we recognize that the majority of these
9additional tourists are likely to come from the midwest; and be
10it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That the easiest way to get tourists from the
12midwest to visit Chicago is to make it easier for tourists from
13the midwest to visit Chicago; and be it further
 
14    RESOLVED, That we calls upon all other stakeholders in the
15tourism economy to recognize that offering more affordable,
16frequent, convenient passenger train service, both through
17expanding Amtrak and through new high speed rail connecting
18midwest communities to Chicago is a crucial strategy to reach
19our economic goal of 5O million annual visitors to Chicago by
202020."