State Tourism Director Visits Effingham w/Record Breaking News

Cory Jobe is the Illinois Director of Tourism, and he did not need directions to reach Effingham Monday to share some record-breaking news.

Jobe is a Crawford County native and a former candidate for state representative in this region.

Jobe had good news to share during a visit to Firefly Grill; Illinois attracted 109.7 million visitors during 2014. The number is four million visitors more than in 2013 and included two million international visitors.

The visitors packed some purchasing power; $36 billion was spent by tourists in Illinois last year, a 5.1% increase from the previous year and the fourth straight year of record-breaking increases. The revenue generated $2.7 billion in tax revenue. Jobe also noted that the tourism industry in Illinois added 5,000 jobs last year.

Most notable locally was that the Effingham area's tourism revenue increased by more than 7%, ahead of the state average.

Regionally, tourism generated $145.1 million in revenue last year and provided 900 jobs.

Jobe pointed out that this region has plenty to offer where tourism is concerned, highlighting Mid America Motorworks and Firefly Grill, and noting that Heartland Dental generated 8,000 motel room stays last year for those in Effingham for training. Firefly was also saluted for their role in last year's James Beard Awards in Chicago, which Jobe said is noted as "the Oscars of food".

(ILLINOIS DIRECTOR OF TOURISM CORY JOBE, EFFINGHAM CITY TOURISM DIRECTOR JODI THOELE, AND EFFINGHAM MAYOR JEFF BLOEMKER POSE AMIDST MANY PICTURE-TAKERS IN FRONT OF THE NEW "ILLINOIS MADE" IMAGE PROMOTING PRODUCTS MANUFACTURED IN THE STATE)

Jobe unveiled a new brand image for Illinois products: "Illinois Made". He also highlighted the expanded social media offerings for Illinois tourism; Illinois Mile Markers on Instagram, Twitter challenges with the State of Florida during the Stanley Cup hockey finals that generated 21,000 impressions, the "enjoyIllinois" website, and a video showing entitled "Find Something More" that has more of an emotional pull to its promotion of Illinois. "Delicious Destinations" highlighted Illinois eating opportunities including Firefly. 

Jobe also mentioned expanding Illinois' efforts to go global in promoting tourism, including reaching out to tourists in China, joining efforts in the UK, Germany and Japan.

In the midst of Illinois' budget battles, Jobe noted that Tourism is the only state agency that generates all of its budget revenue, and returns much of the dollars earned to other areas of state spending.

Here's Greg Sapp's interview following the presentation with Illinois Tourism Director Cory Jobe. The director noted that his job involves a lot of travel, with very few nights at home...