Chicagoans Skip Indiana Vacations

A view of Lake Michigan
from Beverly Shores, Indiana

Chicagoans would rather visit Wisconsin or Michigan than they would Indiana, reports Ben Goldberger of the Chicago Sun-Times.

A vacation in the Hoosier state? Not likely if you're a Chicagoan. Indiana does not even crack the top five as a vacation destination for Chicagoans, according to market research data collected by the Scarborough Research Corporation. Wisconsin is Chicagoans' top place in the U.S. to vacation, with Michigan -- which most Chicagoans must drive through Indiana to get to -- a close second.

Curt Brantingham, an Indiana tourism officials says, "Everyone kind of has their own things that they like to do, but Indiana is very diverse. It may not have quite the reputation as some of the other states, but we try to work on that."

Taking Down Words comments (hat tip to TDW for having a reader who spotted the Sun-Times article):

Wow, Curt, what a ringing endorsement of the state you're paid to promote. Maybe you could fashion that into your very own uplifting tagline: "Working Hard Not To Suck As Much As People Think We Do."

It seems that people from Chicago want to see the natural beauty of Michigan or Wisconsin. I suspect if Lake County's lake front was developed a la the Marquette Plan proposed by Rep. Pete Visclosky, we'd see more interest in visitors from Illinois spending some time in the state. See also GLC's PDF for more information about the Marquette Plan.

Indiana tourism Chicago