Tourism Up Across Illinois

More than 103.5 million tourists from around the U.S. visited Illinois last year.

The state Wednesday released domestic visitor statistics for 2013, which it says rose 4.5 percent. It's the third year in a row that the state has set a domestic tourism record.

Data also show the state collected more than $235 million in hotel-motel taxes last year. That's a 7.2 percent increase over 2012.

Meanwhile the city of Chicago says it had nearly 47 million domestic visitors last year — or 4.4 percent more than 2012. City data show Chicago's McCormick Place hosted 78 conventions and trade shows in 2013. The city had 18.6 million overnight visitors in 2013, up 3.8 percent.

Data on international visitors to Illinois and Chicago are to be released later this year.