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Kankakee County Convention & Visitors Bureau reports increased hotel occupancy and visitor engagement in 2024
Summary
Nicole Gavin, director of the Kankakee County Convention & Visitors Bureau, told the City Council that visitor metrics improved in 2024, with a jump in hotel occupancy and new marketing campaigns planned for 2025.
Nicole Gavin, director of the Kankakee County Convention & Visitors Bureau, presented a year-in-review to the Kankakee City Council on Feb. 3, reporting higher hotel occupancy and increased online engagement in 2024.
Gavin said the bureau’s 2024 calendar-year metrics show 15.4% of people in Kankakee County met the bureau’s definition of a visitor (present in the county for more than two hours and less than two weeks), and that visitors accounted for 9% of total county spend. Hotel occupancy rose from 51% in 2023 to 61% in 2024, and the bureau recorded a 25% increase in organic website users since 2023. Gavin said 34% of visitors engaged in outdoor recreation — a key target for future marketing.
Gavin described event-level observations: Merchant Street Music Fest recorded a small dip in hotel occupancy but increased resident and attraction spending, while the Labor Day regatta produced a 14% increase in visitor spending and higher campground usage. Wintersong, a single-day January event, showed no change in hotel occupancy but higher nightlife and restaurant activity.
The bureau plans several 2025 initiatives, Gavin said: an experience guide due in March, a revived craft-beverage-and-taco trail (event slated for March 27), an outdoor-adventure summer campaign, and a lifestyle and talent-attraction campaign aimed at helping local employers recruit. The bureau also said it is using new software that provides more granular visitor metrics and is encouraging user-generated content via a new hashtag (#myKankakee).
Gavin invited council members and staff to visit the bureau’s new downtown location in the depot and to provide feedback on campaigns.
Quote
"We moved into the depot in October…we're getting people’s eyes on Kankakee County, and they are coming," Gavin said, summarizing 2024 performance and marketing plans.
Context
Gavin emphasized the bureau’s measurement rules: to be counted as a visitor a person must be in the county more than two hours but not longer than two weeks. The bureau’s reported spending and occupancy figures reflect calendar-year 2024 data and the bureau’s internal analytics tools.
Next steps
Council members heard the update; staff and the bureau will coordinate on upcoming promotional efforts and data sharing for events.
