This year, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism (IOT) is proud to celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week (NTTW) with a special focus on sustainable travel across the state. The theme for this year’s NTTW is “Travel Forward,” emphasizing the essential role travel plays in promoting economic growth, creating job opportunities and uniting millions of Americans. To kick off NTTW, IOT is releasing a roundup of new eco-friendly summer trip ideas across the state to build excitement in advance of the upcoming summer travel season. More than 97 million visitors spent $32.2 billion across the state in 2021, boosting economic development and supporting nearly 390,000 jobs in the industry, according to the latest data available from Tourism Economics.

Illinois is home to unparalleled lodgings in reimagined structures. Select highlights include:

• The Has Bin Guest House, Alvin – Formerly used to store grain, The Has Bin Guest House now serves as a cozy and rustic getaway for visitors with a sleeping loft and an upper deck for stargazing at night. 

• Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, Chicago – Following the original Chicago Athletic Association club’s closure, the iconic Venetian-Gothic building on Chicago’s famed Michigan Avenue was transformed into a luxury boutique hotel.

Dine surrounded by the fields and crops that define the menu. Select highlights include:

• Locavore Farm, Grant Park – Only 43 miles south of Chicago, this family-owned farmstead offers a ‘Dine on the Land’ experience that brings guests together at a 107-foot-long table in the garden. 

• Epiphany Farms, Downs – With 75 acres of farmland, orchards and vineyards, plus a team dedicated to regenerative farming techniques, it’s the crops grown on-site that sustain four restaurants (Epiphany Farms Restaurant, Anju Above, Bakery and Pickle, and Harmony) in nearby Bloomington.

To view the full list of eco-friendly trip ideas, visit EnjoyIllinois.com.

Photo Credit: Illinois Office of Tourism