Things are looking up for the hotel and tourism industry.
What you just heard right now was sighs of relief and cheers for joy.
According from a recent report from the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, Chicago’s downtown hotel community had a great month for August. Hotels had 82.7% occupancy, which is up 2.7% from August of 2010. Chicago’s hotels also had a daily rate of $171.54, a 6.3% positive change, and revenue available per room rose to $141.94, a 9.1% change.
In terms of year to date, hotels had a 70.8% occupancy rate (up 3.1% since August 2010), an average daily rate of $170.44 (up 5.8%), and revenue available per room of $120.74 (up 9.1%).
Also, Chicago was selected as the host city for the World Routes Development Forum in September 2014. The city will host 3,000 delegates from the airline, airport and tourism industry to discuss matters related to commercial airline route development.
And in another piece of good news, the Chicago-China tourism relationship is thriving. Chicago had 97,000 visitors from China in 2010, which is up from the 72,000 they received in 2009 (a 35% increase). Thanks to Cathay Pacific Airways’ new nonstop flight to Hong Kong, Chicago now has six daily flights to China, reaching cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. That daily Cathay Pacific flight is crucial: it is expected to bring $200 million in new economic activity to the Chicago region, according to Don Welsh, president of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau.
People in the hotel and tourism industry see these trends continuing through 2012 and beyond.
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