Jacksonville saw a return to post-pandemic levels of tourism income.
Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director Brittany Henry says that there was a flat 1% increase in tourism dollars compared to last year’s record-breaking year: “Last year, we had our record breaking, with an increase at 13%. It’s natural to regress a little bit after such a large year, but we are very excited with this year’s numbers. The economic impact was $77.8 million in visitor spending to the Jacksonville area; and we support 430 direct jobs out of those numbers. Then, also, our local tax revenue generated for the Jacksonville area was $3.7 million.”
Henry says there are a diverse number of things driving tourism to Jacksonville: “A lot of revitalized local development, I think, has definitely helped tourism in Jacksonville. It’s brought a lot of people to Jacksonville that are working on projects. That’s a big increase that we see. We’ve got unique events. We’ve got historical attractions. Sports and recreation is still a really big piece for Jacksonville. We are excited to see the news from the Midwest Athletic Center that they’ve added another enhancement to their facility that will hopefully bring lots more to the area with their offerings of the multi-purpose area. Education and business travel is still really carrying Jacksonville. Leisure is still a piece that we look at. We are seeing that our leisure travel is increasing due to people wanting to visit smaller communities. They want to have those real experiences with real people and real faces. We are definitely seeing that increase, as well.”
Jacksonville is enjoying the recent tourism boom that is being felt all across the state. Governor J.B. Pritzker announced earlier this month that Illinois reached its highest-ever hotel tax revenue figures in the most recent fiscal year, and welcomed over 112 million domestic and international visitors who spent $47 billion in 2023 – an increase of 1 million visitors and $3 billion in spending from 2022.
Henry says that one area locally that the city should continue looking towards building out is recreation opportunities to attract visitors to the City of Jacksonville in the coming years.