LaSalle finance committee renews $9,000 tourism membership after 2025 visitor briefing

LaSalle finance committee members voted unanimously to renew the city's annual membership with Heritage Corridor Destinations for $9,000 after a presentation on visitor counts and spending in 2025.

Bob Navaro of Heritage Corridor Destinations told the committee the organization defines a visitor as someone who travels 50 miles or more and spends at least two hours in the destination, and that the group requires a minimum of 1,000 data points to report results. "In looking at that for the annual year of 2025, January to December, we know that 31% of the people that came to the destination that are defined as a visitor' 31% were defined as a visitor," Navaro said, adding that 59% of those visitors came from out of state.

Navaro said visiting-outside-market spending accounted for about 31% of total destination spending and that Chicago (including suburbs), Davenport-Rock Island-Moline, and Peoria-Bloomington were the top origin markets. "The top where visitors are spending their dollars here in LaSalle is gas and service stations and then food and beverage," he said, and he noted that roughly 11% of visitor spending goes to locally owned shops and restaurants, while restaurants accounted for the largest single category at about 32% of visitor spending.

The presentation described the research methods used to produce the figures: a commercial analytics product called Zardico that combines anonymized mobile-device location data and credit-card indicators to estimate origin markets and spending patterns. Navaro also summarized marketing placements over the past year, saying LaSalle was included in countywide winter and summer campaigns that registered multi-million impression totals and that the organization featured city events and businesses in weekly e-newsletters and social posts.

Kurt, a city staff member who introduced the item, recommended continuing the partnership. "We were able to get a much better deal for the money than we would if we were going out on our own," Kurt said, describing savings and promotional leverage for events such as Frosty on First.

Following discussion, a council member moved to renew the membership for $9,000; the motion was seconded by Alderman Reynolds. The clerk called the roll: Alderman Deus, Thompson, Patac, Reynolds, Leav, Jeepson, Hurnen and Crane all voted in favor. The motion carried.

Earlier in the meeting the committee also approved the minutes of the finance meeting held Feb. 17, 2026. The committee adjourned after completing the agenda.