Travel leaders tout advertising successes, look for boost from state

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Last Monday and Tuesday, attendees of the Driving Tourism 2008 conference in Grand Rapids heard some heartening information:

Tourists made approximately 3.8 million trips to Michigan and dropped about $805 million before they left. That spending produced some $56 million in tax revenue.

And all of that was due to $20 million in out-of-state advertising between 2004 and 2007 to lure travelers to while away their vacation time here.

In short, every dollar spent on tourism advertising generated $40 for Michigan businesses.

In spite of that, tourism in 2007 was flat. To help spur the industry, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm expects to sign a $45 million out-of-state tourism advertising package this week. The money would be available through 2010.

“Travel Michigan wants to add Columbus, Dayton and St. Louis, three new out-of-state markets, to their advertising campaign, and is also planning a national golf promotion for the state this year,” says Sarah Nicholls, assistant professor of MSU Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies. “They’re also launching a first-ever winter tourism campaign, and a first-ever national cable television tourism campaign.”

Nicholls and assistant professor Robert Richardson presented their predictions for 2008 tourism at the conference. Those predictions, based on data from several sources including the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, are far from dire, but do forecast a slight downturn based on many factors, including high fuel costs.

“This year, we predict a 2 percent decline in travel volume,” Nicholls says, “while travel spending on lodging and restaurants will be flat, and travel prices will increase about 4 percent.”

In 2007, inter- and intra-state travel volume was 104 million visitors, travel spending on lodging and meals was over $18 billion, and prices for lodging and meals rose 3.2 percent.

Source: Sarah Nicholls, Ph.D., MSU Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies

Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].