Awards & Recognitions

In the March edition of Smart Meeting magazine, Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Vice President of Sales, Mary Patchin, was named a 2023 Smart Women in Meetings Award winner in the Industry Leader category. The award was announced in conjunction with the start of Women’s History Month.

In the June edition of  Smart Meetings magazine, the Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau was named one of the best Convention & Visitors Bureaus and Destination Marketing Organizations (CVB/DMO) in the United States.

Sports Destination Management recognized the 2019 Toyota USA National Juniors & Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Association Championships as a Champion of Economic Impact in Sports Tourism. The championships were held at four different locations in the Chicago Southland, including the Lincolnway Special Recreation Association (LWSRA) in New Lenox. The tournament featured 57 teams with more than 500 adaptive athletes participating. The event used a total of 19 hotels throughout the Chicago Southland and generated 1,300 hotel room nights over the course of three days.

In April 2018, the South-Southwest Suburban United Way awarded the Visit Chicago Southland with the first ever Community Award for their involvement and work with the April Food Day event.

In 2015, the marketing department descended upon Bloomington, Ind. for the annual Travel Media Showcase conference with one goal in mind: to get as many travel writers excited and inspired to visit the Chicago Southland as humanly possible. What they did not expect was to be met with overwhelmingly positive reviews about the staff and destination, only to be recognized with the 2015 Journalist Choice Award.

Visit Chicago Southland proudly received the Illinois Excellence in Tourism Award for Best Website (Budget A) at the 2024 Governor’s Conference on Travel & Tourism in Peoria, Illinois. This prestigious recognition highlights the outstanding enhancements made to our website, which now features cutting-edge AI-powered accessibility widgets, an intuitive "Plan Your Trip" interface, and engaging interactive videos. Visitors can explore 360-degree virtual tour videos of local amenities, enjoy seamless mobile responsiveness, and access a downloadable app. The website also boasts improved photo-driven navigation and a richer collection of user-generated content, all designed to create a more dynamic and user-friendly experience. 

Visit Chicago Southland has proudly achieved the prestigious Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) designation with distinction from Destinations International, a prestigious honor awarded to organizations that exceed standard accreditation requirements. To earn this distinction, we not only met but exceeded 100 rigorous performance standards and aspirational benchmarks. This accolade recognizes our exceptional commitment to industry excellence and adherence to comprehensive global standards for destination organization performance and accountability. The DMAP accreditation involves compliance with a broad set of mandatory and voluntary standards across critical areas such as governance, finance, human resources, sales, communications, destination development, and research. Our distinction highlights our exceptional operational breadth and steadfast dedication to advancing the destination we proudly represent.