The number of visitors to Chicago last year rose 6.5% to 55.3 million, compared to 2023, the city’s tourism agency Choose Chicago announced Thursday. In 2024, international visitors to Chicago topped 2 million for the first time since 2019.
Kristen Reynolds, Choose Chicago’s new CEO and president, acknowledged international and economic headwinds, but said the city’s strong 2024 visitor numbers, “sets the stage to go into uncertain times with great momentum. We hope we can continue to stay steady and continue to grow.”
Reynolds said the 6.5% rise in visitors is “significant” compared to industry standards of 2.5% to 3% annual growth.
“It’s very difficult to know in the global economy what the future holds, but we’re in a strong place,” she said.
But in the first quarter of 2025, Chicago’s international visitors fell 3.6% year over year, said Choose Chicago. In March, total international arrivals to Chicago’s airports were down 7.4%, compared to last year.
Nationwide, international travel was down 3.3% in the first quarter year over year, according to the National Tourism and Travel Office.
Travel to Chicago from Canada in the first quarter was down 7.4%, compared to last year, said Choose Chicago. Nationwide, air travel from Canada to the U.S. fell 14% in the first quarter, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
The number of visitors to Chicago has increased steadily in recent years, but the city has not matched the 61 million visitors in 2019.
Choose Chicago’s announcement came as the city gears up for big summer events, including music festival Sueños, the James Beard Foundation Awards, NASCAR Chicago Street Race, Lollapalooza and the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW trade show in June.
Chicago is also in the spotlight because Robert Prevost, the first American Pope, who took the name Leo XIV last week, hails from the city’s south suburb of Dolton.
A Chicago-born pope is “a pretty awesome opportunity for us,” said Reynolds. It’s too early to see if the pope sparks a tourism bump for the city, but his selection creates “a tremendous amount of media exposure and social media chatter,” she said. “Everyone is talking about it.”
Choose Chicago also announced that last year’s total economic impact of visitors to Chicago was $20.6 billion. In 2024, the agency booked 1,891 meetings and conventions for future years with an economic impact of over $3 billion.
But this year, economic uncertainty has dampened national travel projections after President Donald Trump ordered sweeping tariffs, aggressive immigration policies and other measures.
Travel forecasting company Tourism Economics originally projected a strong 8.8% increase in international visitors to the U.S. in 2025, but in April, revised its annual outlook to a 9.4% decline.
In March international travel to the U.S. fell 14%, said Geoff Freeman, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, on Thursday. In April, that decrease reversed, except for visitors from Canada. “The sky is not falling on the industry,” Freeman said at Choose Chicago’s annual meeting, held at the Nederlander Theatre.
But he noted that domestic travel in the U.S. looks uncertain as people look for more affordable options. Major hotel companies and airlines have also lowered their expectations for the year.
Luxury travel’s outlook remains solid but for mid-level travel, “uncertainty is beginning to rear its ugly head,” said Freeman. “There’s a great deal of uncertainty as we look to the rest of the year.”
In Illinois, the hotel industry is showing worrying signs. Economic uncertainty and government funding cuts are hurting the state’s hotels, with 70% reporting cancellations from international travelers, according to a member survey conducted last month by the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association. In addition, 60% of survey respondents reported cancellations of hotel reservations tied to government travel cuts.
