Full Text of HR0133 98th General Assembly
HR0133 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Tourism is a crucial component of the Illinois | 3 | | economy; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Chicago tourism is the largest source of tourism | 5 | | in Illinois; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, It is an established State policy to support | 7 | | tourism for economic development, particularly
to Chicago | 8 | | where the greatest potential economic impact for the State can | 9 | | be enjoyed; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Choose Chicago has recently announced an | 11 | | audacious goal of 75 million annual visitors
to Chicago in | 12 | | order to dramatically increase the economic impact of tourism; | 13 | | and | 14 | | WHEREAS, It is in the interest of the entire State of | 15 | | Illinois to help reach that goal of 75 million annual
visitors | 16 | | to Chicago; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, Increasing visitors to Chicago has a secondary | 18 | | benefit of exposing those visitors to
potential trips | 19 | | throughout Illinois; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Choose Chicago is currently conducting a public | 2 | | discussion on innovative methods to hit
the goal of 75 million | 3 | | annual visitors to Chicago; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Most tourists to Illinois come from the midwest as | 5 | | the top 5 states providing visitors to
Illinois in 2011 were | 6 | | Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Missouri, | 7 | | according to the Department
of Commerce and Economic | 8 | | Opportunity's 2011 Economic Impact of Tourism report; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Illinois hosted 93.3 million visitors in 2011, a | 10 | | 10% increase over 2010, fueled by an
11.8% increase in leisure | 11 | | travel according to the same report; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, The most likely market for additional tourists | 13 | | coming to Chicago is the 500 mile radius
around Chicago in the | 14 | | midwest; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Many smaller communities in the 500 mile radius | 16 | | around Chicago in the midwest do not
have access to affordable, | 17 | | frequent, or convenient flights to Chicago, either because | 18 | | there isn't a nearby
airport or because the flights from their | 19 | | airport are not affordable, frequent, or convenient; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Driving more than 100 miles can be very | 21 | | inconvenient, particularly due to the relatively
high cost of |
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| 1 | | parking in Chicago (especially compared to the low or no-cost | 2 | | for parking in much of the
midwest); and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has been a leader in | 4 | | investing in Amtrak to provide more intercity
passenger train | 5 | | service, doubling the frequency of round-trips in 2006 and | 6 | | investing State funds in
improving the infrastructure of the | 7 | | Saint Louis-Springfield-Normal-Joliet-Chicago line; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Ridership on Amtrak service has broken records | 9 | | every year for the last 5 years; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, A majority of Amtrak riders on weekends, and a | 11 | | significant amount on weekdays, are not
business travelers but | 12 | | are rather leisure travelers or traveling to visit family or | 13 | | friends according to a
State-authored 2011 survey of passengers | 14 | | aboard the Milwaukee-Chicago Amtrak Hiawatha service; | 15 | | therefore, be it
| 16 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 17 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 18 | | we fully support the goal of 75 million annual visitors to | 19 | | Chicago; and be it further
| 20 | | RESOLVED, That we call attention to the crucial role that | 21 | | transportation
plays in bringing these new tourists to Chicago |
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| 1 | | from, primarily, the rest of the midwest; and be it further
| 2 | | RESOLVED, That the easiest way to get tourists from the | 3 | | midwest to visit Chicago is
to make it easier for tourists from | 4 | | the midwest to get to Chicago; and be it further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That we call upon all other stakeholders in the | 6 | | tourism
economy to recognize that offering more affordable, | 7 | | frequent, and convenient train travel throughout the
midwest to | 8 | | Chicago is a crucial strategy to reach our goal of 75 million | 9 | | annual visitors to Chicago.
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