Budget Impasse Will Mean Tourism Losses: Study

Stuart Caie / CC

A report done for convention and visitors bureaus around the state finds that Illinois is at risk of losing thousands of tourism jobs and hundreds of millions in state and local taxes because of the ongoing budget impasse.  Compounding the problem are cuts being made to publicity efforts that would be able to counter the uncertainty in the marketplace. The study finds that the 20-percent cut in tourism marketing will cost the state two-point-thee-billion-dollars in visitor spending, nearly 23-thousand jobs and nine-hundred-70-million-dollars in taxes.