by Deb Rodak, CAC Director of Tourism Sales
As you can see from the attached chart, our tourism business is back. It is not just improved from last year but is beyond pre-pandemic levels!
Note that these are comparisons of ticket quantities, not revenue collected. I use that comparison so that we do not give ourselves credit for increasing business if all we actually did was raise prices. A quick analysis:
- We are still offering as many cruise departures as we did last year, but our quantity of tickets has increased by 24%
- Exhibit entries has only increased by 5%, but that has been an historically tough number to move, at least it is going in the proper direction
- We did increase our walking tour capacity 17% by adding an average 1 walking tour/week. But we more than sold that, our walking ticket quantity increased by 29%
- Our Actual Attendance on walking tour is up 27%, that small charge to members for neighborhood and building tours seems to have damped the no-show bookings
- Retail sales is up 40%!!! Have you been to the shop lately, it’s looking great.
- Call Center continues to be busy answering tour questions, supporting members, and assisting with guest problems.
Thanks for all your excellent work. Our great reputation keeps us high on visitor lists of things to do when they are in Chicago.