We are excited to announce that 2016 brought another record breaking year of visitor spending to DeKalb County. Visitors spent $93.88 million across DeKalb County, generating $7.89 million in state and local taxes.
Tourism supported 20 new jobs in 2016, bringing our total to 570 tourism related jobs in DeKalb County.
“These numbers reflect the success of the marketing and sales efforts that the DeKalb County CVB does to promote our area to visitors. They are also reflective of the thriving tourism industry that our partners are building. We are seeing expansion in the agritainment tourism market and additional events being added throughout the region. Arts, culture, sports, and our bold spirits artisans are our premiere niche markets. DeKalb County is also a strong draw for weddings, conferences, special events, and tour groups.”~ Debbie Armstrong, Executive Director, DeKalb County Convention & Visitors Bureau
Estimated Economic Impact of Recent Events
- Bike MS: Tour de Farms brought in approximately $146,716 with 1,200 visitors attending the event June 9-11th.
- USATF Illinois Youth Regionals was a new event to DeKalb County that brought in approximately $161,790 and 2,000 visitors July 6-9th.
- Drum Corps Tour of Champions, a single night concert, brought in approximately $35,735 from an approximate attendance of 5,000 on July 15th.
That’s over $344,000 coming into the DeKalb County economy from these three events alone!
