Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau

Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, founded in 1943, aims to promote Chicago as a destination for all types of customers and generating revenue for the city s visitor industry. It emphasizes on sales and marketing of McCormick Place and Navy Pier as venues for major events. It has various departments, including bureau services that works with the convention sales department as a liaison between meeting planners, its members and city offices. Its One-Stop Chicago department provides housing, transportation and preregistration services for conventions and trade shows. The bureau also has sales-tourism, marketing, public relations, marketing communications, and research departments. Its membership department recruits and retains hospitality-related businesses for membership, and has a promotions and special events department as well. The bureau works in partnership with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, and Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity s Bureau of Tourism. In addition to its Chicago office, the bureau has an office in Silver Spring, Md.