President Donald Trump just can’t keep Chicago’s name out of his mouth. In his effort to corral support for sending military forces to the Black-led Democratic city, Trump has referred to Chicago as “a disaster,” “a killing field,” and “a mess.”
But Chicago is seeing historic lows in crime. According to data from the Chicago Police Department, the city has experienced a 32% reduction in homicides, a 36% drop in shootings and a 36% decrease in robberies from last year.
In his first visit to Chicago as president in 2019, Trump said Chicago was “embarrassing to us as a nation.” Even today, he still claims, “everybody knows Chicago is a hellhole.”
Despite the stigma that Chicago is a crime-ridden and dangerous place, Chicago’s tourism is up. In 2024, international visitors surpassed two million for the first time since 2019, according to the city’s tourism agency, Choose Chicago. Data from the agency also shows that hotel bookings are up 3.8% from last year. For eight years in a row, Chicago has been voted the “Best Big City in the U.S” by Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards, with its repeat visitors as a key factor.
And Chicago is in the top 10 cities seeing the most population growth in the country.
“I think that people are drawn to Chicago because of the city. It’s beautiful,” said Shaneka Fields. She is the operations manager for the Black-owned soul food kitchen, Soulé Chicago, located in the predominantly Black neighborhood of North Lawndale.
“And despite what the news says,” Fields continued, “we have a beautiful city. It has a lot to offer. And we have a lot of events.”
Fields said that tourism is a big part of what keeps Soulé afloat. Events, she said, bring out-of-towners to the establishment. The restaurant also attracts celebrities; rapper Lil Baby visited the eatery back in June. Social media food critic Keith Lee recently named Chicago in his top three food cities – and it wasn’t number three.
Fields said one summer event that propelled business for Soulé this year was the Chicago Greek Weekend in July. The three-day celebration welcomes members of historically Black Greek-letter fraternities and sororities.
“Soulé has become somewhat of a tourist attraction, and we are grateful for that. We have a lot of people that visit from out of town, new and repeat,” Fields said. “I’ll ask, ‘How’d you hear about us?’ And they go, ‘Oh, there’s an AKA [Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.] convention, and you guys were on the list.’ Or someone will say, ‘Oh, you guys were highly recommended.'”
Fields added that Chicago’s vast history is also its selling point. Although Choose Chicago does not track data on which sites are the most popular, some of the destinations that highlight the legacy of Black Chicago that have attracted many tourists include the DuSable Museum in Hyde Park, the Victory Monument in Bronzeville and the Pullman Porter Museum in Pullman.
Some of Chicago’s Black history was front and center this year as Ryan Coogler’s original horror film Sinners hit the big screen in April. The movie showcases Chicago blues legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Buddy Guy. His restaurant and music venue, Buddy Guy’s Legends in the South Loop, is a longtime Chicago staple and is recognized as a world-class venue.
“There’s so much history in Chicago, aside from the fact that Chicago is just a beautiful city,” Fields said. “I mean, I’ve been in Chicago my entire life, and every year I’m learning something new about Chicago.”
People from across the country come to visit for events that uplift Chicago’s Black culture, such as the Chicago House Music Festival and Conference and the two-week-long XL Film Festival, which was put on by and showcased Black creatives. Comedian Kevin Fredericks, better known by his stage name of KevOnStage, attended the XL Film Fest. He visited heralded restaurants across the city to do taste tests, stating that one of his favorite things about the city is how Chicagoans can never agree on the best food spots, giving him a reason to keep coming back to try more.
Cindy Beasley co-coordinated production and press for the 2025 XL Film Fest, which took place earlier this month in Hyde Park. She said the organizers were intentional about hosting various activations across Chicago to showcase the city’s local businesses and diversity.
“I think one of the things that we were most intentional about this year was making it a marketplace for tourists and for locals,” Beasley said. “There’s so many local businesses that got visibility and actual business from the festival. People from out of town [were] commenting on how beautiful the neighborhood was, the history and [its] culture.”
The love Summertime Chi receives each year is plentiful. The city’s widely popular summer vibe was perfectly captured in award-winning rapper and actor Will Smith’s 1991 iconic track, “Summertime.” The song, which won a 1992 Grammy, was inspired by Smith’s trip to Chicago and was also recorded in the city.
“Our summers aren’t just beautiful, magical because they are; it’s also because we’ve been cocooning all winter, and no matter where you are in the socioeconomic state, race, gender, or orientation, all of us all winter are waiting for this,” poet, author and Chicago transplant Leslé Honoré said.
Honoré said she fell in love with Chicago in the late 1990s. Originally from Los Angeles, California, Honoré made regular visits to Chicago when she moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. She said her weekend visits to Chicago brought her solace, with its melting pot of people, which reminded her of home. Upon visiting Powell’s Books in Hyde Park, she was sold. She moved to Chicago’s South Side in 1999. After residing in Woodlawn, South Shore and Chatham over the years, she now lives in Humboldt Park on Chicago’s West Side.
“I love this city fiercely. It has given me every good thing in my life. It has given me my children. It has given me my friends who are now my family,” Honoré shared. “It has given me purpose. More than anything, it’s given me my poetry. It’s given me constant inspiration to write.”
Poet and Big Kids Show co-host Raych Jackson is a native Chicagoan who frequently creates TikToks uplifting the city. She said she believes people keep coming back to Chicago because the city is vast and each neighborhood can satisfy different types of people. She knows many people who took the leap and moved to Chicago after visiting.
“There’s so many different sectors of Chicago you can live in or experience that people truly, truly enjoy. And so when they get a taste of our city. They’re like, Oh, I’m definitely coming back.”
