Kinsinger and Rezin hold tourism roundtable in La Salle

An area Representative and Senator are promising not to let tourism get lost in budget cuts.  More than seventy people from Bureau and LaSalle Counties attended U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger and State Senator Sue Rezin’s Tourism Roundtable in LaSalle on Monday. Both Kinzinger and Rezin began the meeting with facts and figures. Rezin stated that for every one dollar spent on tourism in Illinois, six to nine dollars comes back. She also stated that last year the state had 82 million visitors who spent 27 billion dollars.  Following their opening remarks, several individuals spoke about issues they were having such as wanting signage on the interstate, improving Amtrak rail service, allowing private citizens to volunteer state owned property, and the cost of transportation.  Kinzinger said that he knows times are tough and money is tight everywhere but we should never lose sight of what tourism can do for communities.