Chicago is no stranger to busloads of tourists, but now there’s an unlikely pull for the local tourism industry. An old building on the South Side where there used to be a Baskin-Robbins could be today’s equivalent to Monticello.

The now-closed ice cream shop where Barack and Michelle Obama shared their first kiss is only one of the many attractions to be seen on some of the various Obama tours of Chicago, which range from affordable to more expensive. On Feb. 21, non-coincidentally falling on the same week as Presidents Day, the Swissotel, 323 E. Wacker Drive, begins hosting monthly “President Obama’s Kind of Town” tours.

The tours show off all the places where the Obamas spent their time before they rocketed into political and celebrity prominence. Guests will take a tour bus to Hyde Park to visit sites including the Obamas’ first apartment, the barbershop where the president had his hair cut for 20 years and the South Shore Community Center where the couple had their wedding reception.

“I had people outside of Chicago asking me where the barbershop was-that they had read about it in a newspaper-or asking me about Hyde Park all of a sudden,” said Nicole Jachimiak, director of marketing programs and public relations at Swissotel.

In order to take the tour, guests pay $299, which includes tickets to the five-hour tour and a bus to Hyde Park, overnight accommodations at the Swissotel, access to the hotel’s health club and pool and breakfast for two at the Geneva Restaurant.

If guests aren’t seeking overnight accommodations, Swissotel certainly isn’t the only game in town. About Tours, located in Suburban Glen Ellyn, is also offering tours of “Obama’s Chicago.”

“We’re hoping to give people an idea of his history in Chicago,” said Courtney Ashley, co-owner of About Tours. “He was a real neighborhood person in Hyde Park, so we want to give a sense of that.”

About Tours hosts groups of 30 or more for $58 per person. Lunch is included, and part of the money is donated to a church where the Obamas volunteered.

Although there are a few do-it-yourself walking tour guides available online of Obama’s Hyde Park from various sources, Ashley said tour guides with About Tours give visitors a more well-rounded view of the president’s hometown.

James Kollenbroich, an adjunct history instuctor at Columbia, said Obama’s election certainly merits a response from the tourism industry.

“It is certainly a big deal that we’ve elected our first African-American president,” Kollenbroich said. “Much like going to Monticello-because Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, we sort of have that kind of big historical meaning to this.”

Kollenbroich, who enjoys visiting spots relevant to American history, said there’s a lot of educational merit to visiting a president’s home.

“On some level you’re seeing how [people in the past] lived and where they lived,” he said. “It gives you some sort of a connection to the past and the people who lived there.”

Ashley said some tourists get a sense of pride by following the president’s footsteps.

“They can go home and say, ‘Maybe I sat in the same chair that the president sat in,’ or ‘I talked to the same guy who served him,'” she said.

Unlike the Lincoln House in Springfield, Ill., or George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Va., Kollenbroich said tours of Obama’s old haunts aren’t solely there for educational reasons.

“Never underestimate the ability of people to make money,” he said.

For more information on “President Obama’s Kind of Town” or “Obama’s Chicago,” visit Swissotel.com or AboutToursCo.com.