As part of the International Pow Wow (IPW 2023), the annual trade show for the US travel industry that brings together US destinations, tourism professionals, travel buyers and media representatives from around the world, One of the ABC MUNDIAL meetings was with Lynn Osmond, President and CEO of Choose Chicago, who introduced us to the great tourist offer in Chicago that will surely be very well received by the Latino market.

"We have world-class restaurants, world-class hotels and meeting spaces, cultural institutions and entertainment venues that can compete with the best in the world," explained Lynn Osmond.

"Well, there's so many new things in Chicago, one of the biggest things right now, we've just opened the Saint Regis hotel, which is right on the river, it's designed by a great architect, Jeanne Gang, and it's the most tall designed by an architect in the world. Also the new Arlo Hotel Chicago in Downtown".

"There are many museums to visit and some new ones like the Sloomoo Institute for a great slime experience. And the ice cream museum."

What is typical Chicago food?

Oh there are so many because we have so many nationalities featured in Chicago so you can find American cuisine with our James Beard Award winning Chef who has a southern influence. Or you can find Korean cooking with Beverly Kim who is also an award winning chef. There is wonderful Italian cuisine at Alla Vita, for example. There are food outlets to choose from in each of the 77 neighborhoods.

Chicago River and Lake Michigan

"A wonderful river runs through us, so in Chicago we actually have two shorelines, plus the mighty Lake Michigan, and 18 miles of lakefront biking and walking trails on the phenomenal Riverwalk. There you can eat, take a cruise on the the river or just sit and watch the boats go by, it's so lovely."

"We are a four season city so if you like snow you can come in the winter but my favorite season in Chicago is fall it's so magical with the wonderful light on the changing leaves so it's a wonderful time to to travel around the city by bus, but you can certainly come perfectly in spring, summer and autumn.

Museums

"We have so many museums, like the Art Institute of Chicago, which is a huge museum with all the major artists represented, also an aquarium where you can go see a dolphin show, and a museum about the history of Chicago, there are so many museums to choose".

"The iconic thing is really going up one of our tall buildings, we still have one of the tallest buildings in North America, the Willis Tower, so you can go up 110 stories and go out on the ledge or go up on the 360 ​​Chicago platform, which is 96 stories high and leans over the city, so a very iconic experience, it's just going up and seeing the whole city."

"Oh, we love our South American travelers, they are very important to us. We welcome them and we have such a large Spanish-speaking population that we really have a lot of people you can meet who speak Spanish, if they don't know English," he finally said.