Chicago's tourism Web site beckons visitors to "experience the city the Obamas enjoy." The Illinois Bureau of Tourism plans to launch a three-day getaway promotion featuring Barack Obama sites. And tour guides at the Old State Capitol in Springfield may get new scripts to stress two important speeches the president-elect made as a candidate.

It's all part of Illinois tourism officials' rush to capitalize on the Obama buzz.

A security perimeter surrounds the Obamas' block in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, but tourism office volunteer Catherine Williams still tries to get visitors on walking tours as close to the family home as the Secret Service will allow.

"They want to see the house, and, hopefully, they might get a glimpse of him," Williams said yesterday. "He's almost like a rock star."

Nearby, a restaurant has sold 3,000 T-shirts that read "Obama Eats Here," and a hand-lettered sign in the window of 57th Street Books congratulates "longtime customer" Obama, who has shopped there since 1986.

"They ask, 'What does the senator like to read?' " Jack Cella, of the cooperative that runs the bookstore, said of touring customers. "They buy copies of his book and say they wanted to buy it in the bookstore he shops in."

Travel agencies from around the globe have been phoning for information, and the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau is in the thick of an Obama-focused Internet marketing campaign, said Mark Theis, agency's executive vice president.

"We completely changed our home page to congratulate Obama," Theis said.

Clicking on the site's new "Presidential Chicago" page gives visitors the skinny on restaurants, stores and other Obama hangouts, including U.S. Cellular Field, home of his beloved White Sox.