By Maggie Dougherty
Capitol News Illinois
mdougherty@capitolnewsillinois.com
Illinois’ eight State-run visitor information centers, located within rest areas at interstates around the State, will be closing by the end of the month.
“The role of the State’s visitor information centers has evolved significantly over the past couple of decades as the ways visitors plan and access travel information have changed,” the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity told Capitol News Illinois in a statement. “For example, the centers used to provided services such as booking hotel rooms for tourists, while that is no longer a need of many travelers.”
The rest areas where the centers are located will continue operating, and other services will be uninterrupted, the department added. The closures do not extend to independently operated visitor information centers by local governments or tourism organizations.
The state did not publicly announce the news but confirmed the closures to Capitol News Illinois when asked for comment.
The department did not respond to questions about the cost of operating the centers or the number of jobs that will be impacted.
Nancy Bauer used to work at the Homestead visitor information center in Hamel, where she and her colleagues would greet visitors as they came through the doors, offering them brochures and magazines. But more importantly, she said they could give advice about where to stop.
She considers the closures a loss, especially for older adults.
“They’re alienating the older adults because they want everyone to go towards looking everything up online, and that’s fine to a point,” Bauer said. They had a computerized touch screen map with information available, too, she said.
“That helped, but it wouldn’t tell you why should you go to this restaurant and why should you go see this, and that’s when you needed someone there,” Bauer said.
Her colleagues could point visitors to the best restaurant two hours away, Bauer added. They would also educate travelers about historic events, like the State’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of Route 66.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.