POSTED BY: | May 31, 2012

CHICAGO, May 30, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX)—Choose Chicago announced today that Chicago’s first-ever regional advertising campaign promoting travel to Chicago during the winter season produced 142,000 incremental visits and $119 million in total spending during the first four months of 2012. Visitors from the five key drive markets, including Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St. Louis generated 190,000 incremental hotel room nights that resulted in $5.69 in hotel taxes for every $1 spent on marketing.

The eight-week advertising campaign, at a cost of $721,000 launched January 9 and ran consecutively through March 5 and was supported by proactive media relations and a targeted distribution of Chicago’s Official Visitors Guide. Overall, the winter campaign was a tremendous success delivering $165 in visitor spending for every $1 invested, according to analysis conducted by Strategic Marketing & Research, Inc (SMARI).