Small gains for tourism:

September 3rd Exceprt from the Daily Herald

Visitors to DuPage County contributed $2.16 billion to the state's economy in 2008, according to figures released this week by the U.S. Travel Data Center. That marks an increase of slightly less than 1 percent from 2007's $2.14 billion and keeps DuPage second to Cook County for domestic travel spending in Illinois. DuPage also ranked second in tourism industry payrolls, employment figures and state and local tax revenue - although there were dips in some areas. Roughly 22,210 people were employed in the county's hospitality industry, down about 460 from the previous year, according to the data center.