News from Travel Michigan's Director, George Zimmermann At its December 18th meeting, the Michigan Travel Commission voted to take ownership of the strategic planning process created by the Michigan Tourism Strategic Plan, which is currently in draft form and is scheduled to be presented at the March Tourism Conference (click here for plan details). The Commission has called another special meeting on this subject on Friday, February 9th, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth. Public attendance and participation is encouraged. Mid-December brought an early holiday gift to Travel Michigan – the first time ever we recorded 10 million user sessions on the travel section of michigan.org. This is up from a total of seven million sessions in 2005. We know from our research that two-thirds of the visitors who get information from our site then travel to and in Michigan. We expect the results of our 2006 Advertising Return on Investment study later in January. In partnership with the Michigan Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, there will be a “Pure Michigan” Pavilion at Detroit’s Winter Blast in early February. This event is the continuation of the very successful Winter Blast staged in conjunction with the 2006 Super Bowl XL at Ford Field. We at Travel Michigan wish everyone in the Michigan tourism industry a safe, happy and profitable 2007! For more information, contact George Zimmermann at (517) 335-1879. Scam Warning for Hoteliers It could be argued that the internet has become the most powerful communications tool that the world has ever known. Unfortunately, for all of its virtues, it also opens up a whole new avenue for scam artists to prey on their victims. Recently, we have been told that many of our hoteliers in the state have been contacted through the web or by fax with requests for reservations that are not legitimate and in fact are scams. Most of these scams are apparently coming from oversees, so there seems to be little that authorities can do to recover the ill-earned money and it would be too costly for an individual hotelier to attempt recovery. The scam seems to come about after the agency or traveler makes the reservation and sends a check. While the payment is being processed, the agency or traveler changes the itinerary and requests a refund for the difference in the arrangements. By the time the bank informs the hotelier that the payment is fraudulent, the hoteliers check has already been cashed. Payment is never made and the guests never arrive. While we don’t have expertise in dealing with scams, we do want to make sure that the industry is aware of the issue and suggest that you make sure cashiers checks, credit card and other forms of payment clear the banking process before you consider making any refunds, etc. Travel Michigan has informed the Attorney General’s office about the issue and will relay any pertinent information we receive to you via travelmichigannews.org. For more information, contact Dave Lorenz at (517) 335-0007. michigan.org Web Site Updates — A Travel Perspective November 2006 web visits that were served travel content at michigan.org have increased by 56 percent over the same period last year. November 2006 web visits totaled nearly 765,000 compared to over 489,000 for 2005. Year-to-date totals for 2006 have logged nearly 9.7 million web visits. This compares to over 6.6 million web visits through November 2005, an increase of over 46 percent.
Total November click-throughs from michigan.org to Michigan travel industry web sites were over 221,000, an increase of nearly 25 percent over 2005. Total click-throughs for 2006 number nearly 4.8 million; this is an increase of nearly 37 percent over 2005. Click-throughs are defined as the number of times michigan.org web visitors clicked on a link and were transferred to a private sector web site.
For more information, please contact Gary Platte at (517) 335-1877. michigan.org—Your Promotion Portal The Travel Michigan web site is brimming with information about Michigan's many tourist events and package promotions. However, to be sure that your special package offer and/or travel event is listed in our database, we need you to send us the vital information. Travel Michigan is always happy to promote your tourism related deals and discounts/packages and events. To submit your events, complete our Event Survey and click “Submit.” To submit deals and discounts/packages, complete the Deals and Discounts Survey. If a new tourism business would like to be listed in our database, go to "add your business" and fill out the form. For more information regarding your property or events, contact Trudy Atwood at (800) 676-1743. Hotel Occupancy in Michigan, November 2006 Report The Smith Travel Research report for November 2006 shows Michigan’s occupancy was 45.6%, 4.6% lower than the same month last year. U.S. occupancy was somewhat higher at 58.6%, but also declining by 2.2% from November of last year. For the month of November alone, Michigan had the third lowest occupancy rate of any state. With this low occupancy rate, Michigan lost ground compared to other states, falling to 50th out of the 50 states in year-to-date occupancy. Occupancy in Michigan through November was 55.2%, 1.1% below last year. The national average for hotel occupancy year to date stood at 64.6%, 0.6% higher than last year. Detroit area occupancy for the month of November stood at 52.4%, 5.6% lower than the same month last year. Year-to-date occupancy in Detroit stood at 58%, a 0.1% decline. Detroit remained at 25th of the 25 largest metro areas in the U.S. through November. November Lodging Occupancy in Michigan, Detroit, and the U.S.
Source: Smith Travel Research is based in Hendersonville, TN. They have collected monthly and daily operating data and reported on the state of the lodging industry for 20 years. Currently over 23,000 hotels in the U.S. participate in its monthly survey. For more information, contact Dave Morris at (517) 373-0673. Multimedia Services Coming To Welcome Centers Travel Michigan and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) have been working together over the last year on developing a multimedia services model for the state's Welcome Centers. That work is finally coming to a positive end with the development and release of a Request for Proposal (RFP). MDOT has released the RFP with a proposal due date of February 5, 2007. The RFP is posted on the MDOT website for review by any interested party. What does this mean to the state's tourism industry? It means another promotional mechanism to reach the nine million travelers that pass through Michigan's 13 Welcome Centers each year. The multimedia services model that the RFP will request will be one where the vendor supplies all of the hardware, software, screens, maintenance and system administration free to the state. In exchange, the vendor would then have the right to sell advertising spots on the screens to the state's tourism industry. Under this business model, the state would also receive time on the screens to broadcast traffic and weather alerts plus its own tourism promotional materials. This is a new and exciting project with great opportunities for Travel Michigan and for all of our tourism partners. We will keep you posted on the progress of this project. For more information, contact Ron Marabate at (517) 241-7200. PR Star of the Month Even though relatively new to her position as Director of Marketing & Special Projects for the West Michigan Tourist Association, Sarah Crapo has been a great source of information for the Travel Michigan PR team. When we need something for web site features, media queries or for our monthly media tip sheet, Thumb's UP, Sarah has been quick to respond -- and that means a lot when we are dealing with media deadlines. Thanks, Sarah, and keep the information flowing from West Michigan. For more information, contact Kirsten Borgstrom at (517) 335-1871. Save the Date for the Driving Tourism 2007 Conference Mark your calendar for the second annual Driving Tourism Conference, March 26-27, 2007, at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Traverse City. The 2007 event is sponsored by The Michigan Hotel, Motel & Resort Association (MHMRA), in conjunction with Travel Michigan and Michigan State University. For more information, contact Steve Yencich, MHMRA, at (517) 267-8989. In the News
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