Jun
5
I went to an event May 7 at Union Station. It was called “Downstate Illinois Day.” Basically, it was a lot of booths set up by tourist agencies representing cities around Illinois, encouraging people to travel by rail.
Because gas prices keep rising. And the tourism industry knows that can’t be good.
But I made a few calls to different tourist agencies, and they say they haven’t seen a surge in tourists as a result of Downstate Illinois Day and other promotional events. Amtrak, however, says that ridership has never been better.