CHICAGO-The 2012 North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit, to be held here at McCormick Place for two days May 20-21, should result in $128.2 million in total spending by attendees, 2,200 temporary jobs and almost 50,000 hotel stays, according to a Deloitte study released Monday by the non-profit World Business Chicago. The event will be the first NATO Summit in the United States to be held outside of Washington, DC.
Almost 15,000 delegates, their staff and guests, media and protestors are expected to descend on the city during the event, and on planning trips before the Summit. The leaders are expected to discuss a number of volatile issues, such as strife in the Middle East and the pullout in Afghanistan.
Chicago was recently ranked as the fourth most economically powerful city in the world, according to the Deloitte study, behind Tokyo, New York City and London. The city has an economic output of $500 billion, and is one of the US cities that will be a driving force in the global economy during the next decade, according to a McKinsey Global Institute report.
Also, Chicago’s hospitality market can handle the expected influx. Downtown hotels reported gains in the first quarter, according to Smith Travel Research, with 58.4% occupancy in the quarter at the highest it’s been since 2007.
Don Welsh, president and CEO of Choose Chicago, said in a statement Monday that the impact of Chicago’s hosting of the Summit will have significant long-term economic impact for the city. “The global attention that the NATO Summit will bring to Chicago can and will be leveraged in our efforts to drive increased international visitation,” he said.
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