Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia

What Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia does

Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia is the operating brand of the Macomb Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (MACVB), a non-profit destination marketing organization headquartered at 120 E. Calhoun St., Macomb, Illinois. The organization promotes tourism for Macomb and McDonough County, Illinois — a West-Central Illinois region branded as "Forgottonia" — through a destination website (visitforgottonia.com), social media, earned media, email newsletters, events, and partnership marketing.

The CVB's core products are a portfolio of distinctive, place-anchored tourism experiences. The flagship is Macombopoly, a 170,000-square-foot life-size Monopoly game in downtown Macomb's Historic Courthouse Square unveiled on May 9, 2024, complemented by a custom eATLAS! mobile application featuring a talking A.I. Lizzie Magie character. Additional products include the 10-site Looking For Lincoln Self-Guided Tour, which operates under National Park Service Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area branding (proclaimed June 10, 2021), an Interactive Visitor Map, the Living Lincoln Topiary Monument (dedicated August 2020), and aggregated listings of lodging, dining, events, and attractions across the region. Underlying technology consists of a WordPress-based destination website, a custom mobile app with interactive historical content and an AI-driven character, and QR-code-driven self-guided tour infrastructure.

The organization's revenue mechanics are those of a typical small non-profit DMO: funding derives primarily from local hotel/motel taxes and membership fees from regional SMBs (hotels, restaurants, attractions). Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The CVB operates a horizontal segmentation strategy targeting leisure travelers from Chicago, St. Louis, and surrounding urban drive markets; event organizers and groups seeking unique venues; and local businesses benefiting from increased tourism. Strategic partnerships with Amtrak, the National Park Service, Looking For Lincoln, Enjoy Illinois, Western Illinois University, McDonough County, and the City of Macomb support inbound transportation, federal heritage branding, state-level promotion, and municipal coordination. No venture funding, acquisitions, leadership changes, or revenue disclosures are present in the available data.

Name

Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia

Legal name

Macomb Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

Website

https://visitforgottonia.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Destination Marketing and Tourism Promotion

NAICS

Amusement and Theme Parks (713110), Museums (712110)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Permitting, Reservations & Visitor Information Services (Passes, Booking, Visitor Centers) (THAAAGAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Recreation & Activity Services (Hiking, Boating, Climbing, Fishing—Guided/Authorized) (THAAAGAF)

Keywords

• Destination marketing organization
• Convention and visitors bureau
• Regional tourism promotion
• Heritage tourism attractions
• Visitor information services

Headquarters

HQ city

Macomb

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Tourism Marketing Services: Convention and Visitors Bureau funded through local hotel/motel taxes and membership fees from local businesses. Promotes the region to attract visitors who contribute to local economy through lodging, dining, and attractions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia is the Macomb Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (MACVB), a private non-profit destination marketing organization that promotes tourism to Macomb, McDonough County, and the surrounding 'Forgottonia' region of West-Central Illinois. Its sellable offerings center on the Macombopoly life-size Monopoly game experience, the Looking For Lincoln Self-Guided Tour, an Interactive Visitor Map, and the eATLAS! mobile app, alongside curated information on lodging, dining, events, and attractions for leisure visitors and event organizers.

Product overview

Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia operates a destination marketing website for Macomb and McDonough County, Illinois, promoting tourism through several interconnected offerings. The core products include Macombopoly (a world's-largest life-size Monopoly game experience with AI-powered mobile app), the Looking For Lincoln Self-Guided Tour (a National Park Service-affiliated historical attraction), an Interactive Visitor Map, and the eATLAS! mobile application. The organization also aggregates information on local attractions, dining, lodging, events, and outdoor recreation across the region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Macombopoly - World's Largest Monopoly Game A 170,000-square-foot life-size Monopoly game experience installed in downtown Macomb's Historic Courthouse Square, combining classic gameplay with interactive technology including a custom eATLAS! app featuring an A.I. talking Lizzie Magie character. It is aimed at leisure visitors, families, group events, and team-building activities in West-Central Illinois.
• Looking For Lincoln Self-Guided Tour A 10-site self-guided historical tour through Macomb and McDonough County highlighting Abraham Lincoln's connections to the region, with QR-coded stops delivering in-depth history, photos, maps, and video content featuring 'Abe Lincoln.' Designated under the National Park Service's Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area program and targeted at history seekers and heritage tourists.
• Interactive Visitor Map A digital mapping tool available at map.visitforgottonia.com that enables visitors to explore attractions, businesses, and points of interest throughout Macomb and McDonough County, supporting trip planning and on-the-ground navigation for leisure visitors.
• eATLAS! Mobile App A custom mobile application that delivers interactive historical content and a talking A.I. Lizzie Magie character to enhance the Macombopoly experience, and provides interactive visitor maps and tour experiences for visitors to the Forgottonia region.

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, key and minor.

• AmtrakcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership for passenger rail service to Macomb with joint marketing programs offering summer savings at local businesses. Macomb is designated as an Amtrak community with train service connecting to Chicago, St. Louis, and surrounding areas.
• National Park Service (U.S. NPS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMacomb designated as an Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area through NPS partnership. The Looking For Lincoln Self-Guided Tour is part of the NPS National Heritage Area program, with Macomb officially proclaimed on June 10th, 2021.
• Looking For LincolncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Looking For Lincoln offices in Springfield, IL to promote and coordinate the 10-site Looking For Lincoln Self-Guided Tour featuring Abraham Lincoln historical sites.
• City of MacombcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPrimary municipal partner for tourism promotion, hosting major attractions including Macombopoly on Historic Courthouse Square and Living Lincoln Topiary Monument on City Hall lawn.
• Enjoy IllinoiscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerOfficial Illinois state tourism partner promoting Forgottonia as part of Illinois tourism initiatives.
• McDonough CountycoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCounty government partner supporting tourism promotion across the region including all McDonough County communities.
• Western Illinois University (WIU)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerMajor regional university partner contributing educational attractions, cultural venues, and hosting campus events that attract visitors to the region.
• MasterPiece Customs (Gabe Stevens)keyStrategic or Co-development PartnerArtist who created all custom giant game pieces for Macombopoly including the giant spinning dice, Lincoln hat, and life-size Lizzie Magie sculpture.
• Macomb Rotary ClubsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLocal Rotary clubs provided funding for the Living Lincoln Topiary Monument in recognition of their 2020 centennial anniversary.
• Macomb Beautiful AssociationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLocal organization assisting with maintenance and upkeep of the Living Lincoln Topiary Monument's topiary aspect.
• Western Illinois University FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOwns Vishnu Springs property (Ira & Reatha T. Post Wildlife Sanctuary) which is promoted as a historical and wildlife attraction.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Visit Galena: Regional Illinois DMO marketing a small historic town as a leisure destination, with bundled attractions, lodging, and event calendars — directly analogous in scale and visitor-economy structure to Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia.
• Visit Quad Cities: Regional Illinois/Iowa DMO promoting a multi-city destination with events, attractions, lodging, and interactive visitor tools. Comparable as a CVB operating across multiple towns with shared marketing infrastructure.
• Visit Springfield Illinois: Springfield's DMO is the most direct comparable: an Illinois-based CVB that promotes Lincoln heritage tourism and bundles historic sites into visitor itineraries, mirroring Macomb's Lincoln-focused self-guided tour and NPS Heritage Area positioning.
• Visit Bloomington-Normal: Central Illinois DMO promoting a small-city destination with events, attractions, and lodging content. Closely mirrors the function and visitor-economy profile of Macomb Area CVB, anchored by a regional university.
• Explore Oak Park: Village-level Illinois DMO marketing heritage, arts, and architectural tourism. Comparable as a small-jurisdiction destination marketing organization using cultural/historic content to drive visits.
• Visit Champaign County: County-level Illinois DMO promoting attractions, lodging, and events for Champaign County. Highly comparable as a small-city/rural Illinois CVB operating a destination website with events, lodging, and interactive visitor content.

Regional players

• Visit Missouri: Missouri's state tourism DMO, structurally analogous to Enjoy Illinois and partnering with Amtrak routes that overlap with Macomb's Chicago–St. Louis rail corridor. Comparable as a state-level DMO in an adjacent geography.
• Travel Iowa: Iowa's state tourism office, comparable in function (state-level destination marketing) but operating in an adjacent Midwest geography rather than directly competing for Illinois visitors.

Broad incumbents

• Enjoy Illinois (Illinois Office of Tourism): State-level tourism marketing organization for Illinois. Listed as a core GTM partner of Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia; comparable as a destination marketing organization, but operates at the state level with broader scope and budget.
• Choose Chicago: Major Illinois city DMO with national and international marketing reach. Provides the upper-bound comparable for an Illinois destination marketing organization, sharing the CVB model but at substantially greater scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/macomb-arts-center

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia