It’s no secret that the tourism industry has somewhat managed to get on their feet with the border opening and internal travel also being relaxed so even if people cannot leave their countries they are still allowed to travel within the country. But it is Chicago that is suffering in its hotel industry as experts claimed that the hotel sector is going into a depression.
From O’Hare International Airport to DuSable Lake Shore Drive, more and more people are hitting the roads and taking to the skies lately as the city reopens. But despite an increase in travelers, CBS 2’s Chris Tye found many Chicago hotels are still seriously hurting.
When business travel doesn’t happen, urban centers like Chicago and New York and Los Angeles cannot offset it with tourists. And while a lot of tourist dollars are indeed flowing through places like North Michigan Avenue, it is places like Miami and Phoenix feeling the love of the tourist dollar far more than Chicago.
The foot traffic and photo-snapping that was nowhere to be found in Chicago at this time a year ago conveys the impression that we’re in the middle of a tourist-filled summer. But let’s put it in sharper focus. CBS 2 obtained the latest hotel occupancy numbers. Just 42 percent of Chicago hotel rooms are full between June 27 and July 3 – a figure up 67 percent from the same stretch last year, but down 36 percent from where we were in pre-pandemic summer 2019.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association defines Chicago’s hotel sector in a continued “depression.” Michael Jacobson quoted “The large urban markets, Chicago being one of them, are considered in a depression – not even a recession – but a depression when it comes to hotel revenue, What’s really still lacking is the individual business travelers coming to Chicago, and then, of course, the conventions But that will soon change.”
Revenue for Chicago hotels compared to pre-pandemic 2019 is down 59 percent. In New York, it is down 62 percent, and in San Francisco, revenue is down 70 percent. Resort cities like Miami; Tampa; and Virginia Beach, Virginia lead the pack on reversing the revenue plunge.
