Choose Chicago, the city’s official tourism agency, announced that Chicago has once again been named Best Big City in the U.S. in the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards. This year, over 575,000 readers voted for their favorite destinations and venues, choosing Chicago as the Best Big City in the U.S. for an unprecedented eighth straight year. The announcement of this award follows a banner summer for the city’s tourism, hospitality, and events community.

Condé Nast Traveler has captured input from readers to determine the winners of their Readers’ Choice Awards for 37 years, making it the longest-running and most prestigious recognition of excellence in the travel industry. Chicago has been named Best Big City in the U.S. every year since 2017, more than any other city in the history of the award.

The announcement of Chicago as the Best Big City in the U.S. comes as the city wraps up an incredible summer in the national spotlight. 

Choose Chicago released visitation metrics showing a banner summer of travel:

• Visitors to Chicago filled a total of 3.4 million hotel room nights over the summer months (June, July, and August), 5 per cent more than summer 2023.
• Anchored by the DNC and other major conventions, group hotel room demand totalled 1.1 million room nights, 7 per cent higher than 2023 and exceeding 2019 levels. 
• It was also a strong summer for leisure travel, with events like Lollapalooza and the NASCAR Chicago Street Race contributing to 2.3 million leisure room nights, 4 per cent more than 2023.
• The strong summer of hotel demand drove all-time records in summer hotel revenue (USD $942 million) and City tax revenue (USD $53 million) – both measures 13 per cent higher than 2023. 
• Summer season also welcomed over 671,000 international visitors to Chicago, a gain of 11 per cent versus 2023.  Most notably, Canadian summer visitation was up 21 per cent during the summer months.

Looking ahead, Chicago is gearing up for a busy end of 2024, with major events like the launch of Theatre Season, Christkindlmarket, the Wintrust Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, and more set to attract visitors from near and far.

View all winners of this year’s Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards here.