By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Michigan tourism already brings $17.5 billion dollars to the state annually, generates $971 million in taxes, and maintains 193,000 jobs statewide. But the state and its Midwest neighbors would share an additional $6 to $12 billion in fishing and recreation, and another $19 billion in higher coastal-property values, if the government fully funded a major public works project to cleanup the Great Lakes, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution.
While there's no sure way to determine how much of that money or how many of those jobs would flow directly to West Michigan, experts say the numbers are significant. Consider the projected $100 million in Grand Rapids convention business over the next eight years, and the estimated millions of dollars and countless jobs that the
West Michigan Sports Commission could generate through sports tourism.
"Robinette's Apple Haus has built their business around tourism with their gift shop, winery, and by hosting bus tours," says Steve Wilson, president of the Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau. "And they're close to our region's largest tourist attraction, the Fredric Meijer Gardens."
A significant number of visitors from Detroit, Chicago, Ann Arbor, and other areas come to the region for the art galleries, Wilson says.
But the state needs to do more to advertise Michigan, says Steve Yencich of the Michigan Hotel, Motel & Resort Association. Every dollar of tourism promotion generates about $3 in revenue, with most of it coming back the same year.
"Seventy percent of tourism outcomes are generated by in-state residents," Yencich says. "Our state is in a recession, so residents don't have a lot of money to spend on vacations. There's never been a more important time for the state to reach out and promote tourism."
Source: Brookings Institution; Steve Wilson, Grand Rapids/Kent County Visitors & Convention Bureau; Steve Yencich, Michigan Hotel, Motel & Resort Association
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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