Is Chicago's "Tourist Bubble" Worth It?

The city was right to invest the money into the tourist-oriented attraction that they did at the time. Those investments and projects were started and funded when the tourist business was booming. The economy has gone through ups and downs during the last 20 years and there were times when people had the money to travel and the attractions drew people into the city. When tourist enters into the city they spend money in hotels and in different businesses around the city. It’s a good investment to build attractions that bring economic growth into the city. The problem with this as well is time over the last 20 years things like economic downfall have hit the world meaning that more people think twice about traveling. There have also been major events that no one could have planed for like 9/11 that effect peoples views of big cities and travel. Even the constant up and down of gas prices prevents people from leisurely traveling into the city. So are the attractions like Millennium Park worth the investment? The answer is yes if the city residents of Chicago use the attractions as much as tourist or on a semi-regular basis. But whose to say what the next 20 years will bring maybe one day well be really glad we have a huge bean sculpture in millennium park.

Though the attractions are good for the city in bringing in money to local businesses and the city in ways of transportation departments and hotels it does not help the everyday economic needs of the city. Tourists don’t pay taxes. It sounds simple but it is a complicated point to say while tourist add to the economy of the city they harm it in a way too. The more people in the city that do not live in the city or own property the more the city pays for thinks like public free events and clean up of streets and parks. Money that was spent on building tourist attractions could have been spent on things more beneficial to the city like schools, public works, public housing, and medical care. Those are things that help out the people who are actually residents of the city or pay city taxes.