A recent uptick in crime in the Windy City could do much to damage the city’s reputation and thereby hurt the tourism industry.
From the Chicago Tribune:
“We hope this sunsets quickly because all the good work we’re doing regionally, nationally and internationally, if this is not contained in a reasonable period of time, it will have an impact,” Don Welsh, president and chief executive of Choose Chicago, said in a morning meeting with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board.
News reports of several unprovoked attacks by youths in the Michigan Avenue corridor and of the surge in homicides in some impoverished Chicago neighborhoods are triggering concerned calls to Choose Chicago, the newly restructured not-for-profit agency that combines the city’s convention bureau and its office of tourism and culture. The issue has gained national attention in The New York Times and other media.
“There are inquiries that are coming in from meeting planners that are saying, ‘Hey, I’m reading about what’s taken place in your city. Is your city safe?’” Welsh said. His organization received five to six such calls in the last few weeks, at this point seeking information, not cancellations, he said at the meeting.
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