Planning that getaway vacation? Looking for fun, excitement, culture, nightlife and non-stop action? Think New York, think L.A., think Las Vegas, thinkÉ Chicago?
In the gray light of a March that seems more like January, it's difficult to believe that anyone, anywhere is poring over travel brochures and considering the breezy confines of the Midwest's sub-zero paradise for their vacation - at least not without some slick salesmanship.
We may be the jewel of the heartland, but Chicago lacks the basic characteristics of your popular vacation destination. We're in the middle of the agriculture belt. Our "coast" encompasses a few miles of lakefront that you might think twice about swimming in in the summer, and in the winter, fuhgedaboutit - if it's not frozen, the winds whipping westward are evil enough to send you running for Florida.
There's no built-in, Disney-sponsored frivolity, though the Mouse mega-corp will remedy this in early summer with two new interactive, indoor centers at the east edge of the Ontario/Ohio street tourist traps. (But still, if it's a choice between indoor Disney in the frigid Midwest and outdoor Disney in the warm South or West, well... ) And then there's the weather, ever changing, frequently inconvenient and only somewhat pleasant on arbitrary days of the year. Book now, seats are going fast.
Why would anyone risk a car trip on our pothole-ridden expressways or the grueling experience of O'Hare, when fun, sun and partial nudity beckon from exotic locales?
The simple answer is that Chicago's got a lot to offer, the huge draw of Degas at the Art Institute notwithstanding. We have a strong architecture base that includes the seminal work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan and numerous others. We also have a storied blues and jazz tradition; world class museums; a respected symphony and opera; the eternal charm of Wrigley Field; damn fine eats; all the theater you could want; a magnificent mile of high-end shopping; the lights-camera-action glitz of Oprah and (gulp) Springer; the stomping grounds of such famed authors as Ernest Hemingway and Nelson Algren; and of course, the great MJ.
This is the Chicago seen by the prospective traveler - and if they're putting trust in the tourism bureaus, this may be all they see. The main reason that anyone comes here is that someone somewhere sold them on the idea. Like a hooker shakin' it near the North Avenue bridge, the city has mastered the art of displaying its attributes, downplaying its flaws and putting it all in a glossy package to tempt the most wary of consumers. "Destination Chicago," a glitzy seven-minute music video showcasing Chicago's neighborhood, is one the Chicago Office of Tourism's many sales pitches; you've never seen Andersonville look so sexy.
As with any good sale, the major motivation is money: Chicago sells itself because it has to. As manufacturers continue to move into the space-rich, tax-light suburbs, the city must take advantage of all possible revenue steams. And tourism is a cash bonanza.
"By the year 2000, tourism will be the world's largest business and growing," says Northwestern Professor Irving Rein, co-author of "Marketing Places," which argues that cities must learn to make themselves attractive or face the economic consequences. "There's a lot of money out there."
The current need for continuing, shameless self-promotion should have city tourism officials working on the hard sell for years to come. Working-class Chicago isn't just competing against nearby cities anymore. Nor are we just competing against the glamour, popularity and sentimental-favorite status of New York, though the Big Apple is a factor as well. "For issues like shopping and cultural events, New York is a real competitor. Sure it's higher priced, but New York has a lot of virtues and in recent years it's made itself much more visitor friendly," Rein says.
That New York has done a better pimping job is a problem for Chicago, which has always sold itself on the idea that the Windy City is much more pleasant and down to earth than the famously nasty Gotham City. Now we're dealing with the fact that N.Y.'s much-publicized crime control efforts have earned massive praise and shining publicity, while Chicago chafes under the title of 1998's "Murder Capital of America."
But when it comes to the mechanism for creating, crafting, honing and selling an image that lures, Chicago packs big guns. The Chicago Office of Tourism, housed in the confines of the Cultural Center, combines the big bucks of city funding with a set of connections that keep the propaganda machine working overtime.
"I don't know any other city that has an office of tourism as part of the department of cultural affairs," says newly appointed Tourism Director Dorothy Coyle. "So we have all the resources to get in touch with the museums and the dance companies and all these things that make up our cultural community. That is really something that just put us way ahead of the competition."
The party line at the Office of Tourism is that somehow Chicago is the preeminent cultural destination in the country, Hollywood and Broadway be-damned. What Coyle points out, however, is that in Chicago "culture" is a broad term.
"The way that we have differentiated Chicago from other cities is that Chicago's culture is accessible to all people," says Coyle. "That culture is not necessarily for people who have a lot of money or are who very educated in the arts, things like that. In Chicago, culture includes the Bulls." Well, maybe not this year.
Does anyone really believe that Chicago is a cultural powerhouse of such epic proportions as to lure tourists from New York, L.A., London and Paris? Maybe not, but that's what they're selling - along with sunny lake walks, clean and clear neighborhood tours (selected areas only, natch), deep dish pizza and, of course, Michael Jordan.
And there's some evidence that this sales package is working. Tourism officials report leisure travel in Cook County has been climbing steadily during this decade. Taking an informal online survey, most Europeans who answered seemed to associate Chicago with two things - high culture and cold weather. Although, as Peter Flatcek of the German National Tourism Office explains, a lot of people overseas still have a misguided perception of what Chicago is all about. "I shouldn't even say this because I love the city, it's a great city," says Flatcek. "But overseas people still have Al Capone in mind. And there's other things. The image sometimes isn't really what Chicago deserves. They come over here and are surprised at how clean the city is."
As for Capone and his cohorts, there are undoubtedly some for whom gangland notoriety is more of a draw than a turnoff - though the tourism officials, again hiding those flaws, would never seek the market such a thing. The city's Neighborhood Tours program (which offers jaunts through Chinatown/Pilsen and Uptown, plus a special Gay and Lesbian History tour) operates no Vicious Killers circuit, but at least one entrepreneur offers his own Untouchables Tour for the would be Tommy-gun toter in all of us.
At the end of the day, being home to one of the most notorious criminals in American history ends up doing more harm than good. But, as Coyle reports with some relief, the enormous international celebrity of Michael Jordan has done what the tourism folks, with all time spent spinning, selling and gilding the lily, has not: given worldwide visitors a new set of associations with the city. Of course the fact that you just can't come and see him play anymore seems like a huge selling point down the tubes. But Coyle is somehow confident that the residual affects of the Jordan phenomenon will linger whether or not his Airness makes another triumphant comeback.
"That's something that is not going to go away tomorrow or next week or next year. It's helped connect something with Chicago, that they may have not otherwise," she says.
But Chicago remains a monster sell. The cold hurts, and potential tourists may or may not decide to believe our new "Chicago: It's warmer than you think" sloganeering. And face it, who - other than those who are selling it - thinks of Chicago as the cultural Mecca of America? The Midwest setting makes it a challenge to offer to Europeans as a first stop destination: Folks who really want to "see America" stubbornly insist on doing so in New York.
Though Nell Barrett, Vice President of Communications for the New York Tourism office, made a repeated point of her reticence to "get into a conversation about how does Chicago compare against New York," she admits that "While certainly Chicago is perceived as a world class business and convention destination, I don't know how it fares as far as leisure. New York holds a special place in people's minds."
For tourism officials, as with any sales gig, the success or failure of the pitch can always come down to outside forces. No matter how much pushing they do, no matter how good the presentation ultimately, an outsiders view of Chicago is entirely out of their hands. Coyle and her cohorts can create millennial celebrations, send out promotional videos and glossy skyline pics from summer days to their heart's content. In large part, people will form their own ideas, based on news reports, movies and the ultimate image-marketing tool of the twentieth century: television.
As difficult as it is for those of us who live here to believe, to your average German or Brit (which represent the two largest foreign travel markets) Chicago will always be the place where J.J. Evans and family live, Matthew Broderick lip-synchs "Twist and Shout" atop a parade float and Kevin Costner tosses some gangster off a roof.
But even if the city's tourism business went into freefall, Chicago would still be able to peddle itself. Just down the road from Navy Pier - Chicago's nearest approximation of Space Mountain - is another architectural piece de resistance: McCormick Place, the single largest convention and trade show facility in these United States.
Though it's all connected, if tourism is the streetwalker, the convention business is it's higher class, by-appointment-only sister. And it's stacked. Charged with luring everyone from the American Camping Association to the National Dinner Theater Association for an annual meeting or trade show, the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau has an annual budget nearly seven times larger than the tourism people's meager $1.8 million.
That money reflects the fact that businessmen spend a hell of a lot more in a host city than their vacationing brethren. While tourists drop chump change on souvenirs and Italian beefs, it's within the shiny glass confines of McCormick Place the city just rakes in dough - before sending their visitors out to max their Visa in local restaurants, stores and entertainment establishments. On average, a corporate fat cat will drop $194.70 every day of a Chicago trip on steak and celebratory cigars, while his vacationing counterpart only spends $101.10.
"This is a city to do business in," says Bureau salesman Brad Lewis, explaining how pitfalls, like the often-brutalizing weather, are turned into pluses: "It's a lot easier for some people to explain to their boss that they're going to Chicago in January than Orlando. Why are these meetings being held? To get results." Selling Chicago as a convention city is easier than scoring a joint at a Phish show. We're the number one player in the game, and have been since the days when Nelson Algren suggested that businessmen like it here because we have so many whores.
But the market is changing as smaller cities are begining to snag medium and small shows. And then again, Chicago isn't cheap.
"There's two ways we compete with Chicago for convention business," says Michelle Fusco of the Detroit Convention and Visitor's Bureau. "One, certainly, is the price point. Detroit can offer a similar quality, but is usually a better bargain as far as room nights. The other issue is size. Chicago is such a big convention city. In DetroitÉ we won't let people get lost in the crowd."
Don't expect to see any quaking in the boots of the Chicago Convention Bureau - they've got enough years of experience on top to know who wants what from the city and to sell it to them that way. Though spokeswoman Alisa Gordon-Bay recognizes that their biggest challenge right now is "letting people know that Chicago can host meetings and conventions of all sizes," optimism remains the word of the day at McCormick Place. "While the perception is that we're the mega-show location, we've been very effective at selling the smaller shows," Lewis says.
Lewis paints a rosy picture of Chicago's future in the convention and tourism business, and as long as they pimp it accordingly, it's difficult to argue. Tourists and businesspeople continue to brave the mean streets and meaner weather of Chicago to plan their meetings and holidays here. If anyone is still baffled as to why, we can turn finally to the most compelling reason of all - for all the salesmanship, people really want to buy. As Coyle notes the number one activity for visitors international and domestic is always shopping. Then she smiles.
"And we have great shopping."
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.