News from Travel Michigan's Director, George Zimmermann First, you have a chance to be part of Michigan tourism history later this month. For the first time ever, a Michigan tourism industry strategic plan, created by the industry and for the industry, will be unveiled at the Driving Tourism 2007 Conference March 25 to 27 in Traverse City (details on the conference and registration are below). Hundreds of tourism industry professionals contributed to this plan over the past year and the Michigan Travel Commission will reveal the final version during the conference. The plan details strategic recommendations in a number of important areas, including promotion and funding, research, hospitality training and government relations. These recommendations provide a framework for advancing the industry in coming years. You don’t want to miss this. And speaking of the Michigan Travel Commission, the newly energized Commission, under the leadership of chair Chris MacInnes (Crystal Mountain) and vice-chair Ken Hayward (Grand Hotel), has stepped up to accept ownership of the strategic planning process and implementation. This expanded role for the Commission was one of the recommendations from the strategic plan development. Starting with this issue, Chris MacInnes will pen a monthly column in this tourism industry newsletter presenting the Commission’s take on important events and developments. In other Travel Michigan news, we are partnering in a new initiative called Meetings Michigan. The goal of this new effort is to attract more out-of-state corporate meetings to the state through a cooperative marketing program. We pulled together a focus group of both convention and visitor bureaus and hotel properties and they convinced us this market was worth trying. We have provided seed funding to get this initiative off the ground and interested CVBs and individual properties can participate on a pay-to-play basis. For more information, contact Kim Corcoran at (231) 941-8500. Finally, we are purchasing new data related to our consumer web site, michigan.org. A vendor called Hitwise tracks consumer volumes to popular web sites. We now will get monthly reports tracking our web volume as compared to the 49 other state tourism web sites. In January, michigan.org was the third most popular state tourism web site in the country, with only North Carolina and Florida receiving more traffic. Given that we rank 17th of the 50 states in state tourism office budget, we are pleased with these results. For more information, contact George Zimmermann at (517) 335-1879. As We See It, Views from the Travel Commission
Chris MacInnes, Chair
Thomas Friedman, in the second chapter of his book, The World is Flat, quotes an African proverb that I think is applicable to the Michigan tourism industry as we define who we are, and where we want to go: Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. As an industry we understand that not only must we start running, but also, we must carefully select our course. This means collaborating and partnering to enhance our visitors’ experiences, as well as sharing and leveraging scarce resources, regardless of organizational labels. This means funding strong promotions in key markets with compelling messages that celebrate our natural resources and urban assets. And it means delivering experiences and hospitality that bring people back again and again. The competition to attract and retain visitors is powerful, extends far beyond our borders, and has access to substantial resources. Our industry has crafted the Michigan Tourism Strategic Plan to help us run faster and more effectively. This plan lays out an ambitious agenda and is a remarkable example of an industry collectively creating its own road map for the future -- a plan by the industry, for the industry. It includes many recommendations, some of which can be implemented with existing resources while others require resources that may not currently be available. This grass roots plan has been endorsed by our industry and will help it speak with a shared voice, adding value to Michigan tourism and benefiting all Michiganders. In December of 2006, the Michigan Travel Commission was asked by the Industry Planning Council to accept ownership of this plan. We were honored by this request, but also recognized that with ownership comes responsibility. As owners of this plan, we would be expected to play a stronger leadership role than we have for many years. We deliberated with full knowledge of this expectation and agreed to accept the challenge. The Commission’s first official “act” as the plan owners will be introducing it to the industry at the upcoming Driving Tourism 2007 Conference. We will do so with the Industry Planning Council and Travel Michigan at 10:30 a.m., Monday, March 26th, and we hope you’ll be there. On behalf of my fellow Commissioners, I would like to reiterate that we are honored to be asked by the industry to take ownership of the Michigan Tourism Strategic Plan. We are committed to being thoughtful and responsible stewards, as we incorporate this responsibility into our work agenda. We also thank each of you for your contributions to this plan. Finally, we want to express our gratitude to the Dean of Michigan Tourism, Dr. Don Holecek and Gary Warnell, who have championed this effort, devoting countless hours to produce a valuable gift to our industry. The sun is coming up. Let’s get running! Driving Tourism 2007 Conference & Michigan Tourism Industry Strategic Plan Plan now to attend this year’s Driving Tourism Conference, March 25-27, 2007, at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Traverse City. This year’s theme is “Uniting, Celebrating and Building Michigan’s Tourism Industry.” The conference will kick off with the March Travel Commission meeting and will include great speakers, educational workshops and the presentation of Travel Michigan’s 2007 Outstanding Achievement in Michigan Tourism Award(s). In addition, this year’s conference will serve as the backdrop for the roll-out of the Michigan Tourism Industry Strategic Plan--making this one of the most important annual tourism conferences in years. Be there to participate in this industry-driven planning process, as well as to attend great sessions on a wide variety of tourism-related topics. Travel Michigan will present plans for the second year of the “Pure Michigan” branding campaign. There’s still time to nominate potential recipients of the 2007 “Outstanding Achievement in Michigan Tourism” award. To submit a nomination, fill out the form (PDF) and provide a short biographical sketch of the nominee. Travel Michigan staff and a panel of industry members will review the nominations and will select the winner(s) to be announced at the annual conference. The 2007 event is sponsored by the Michigan Hotel, Motel & Resort Association (MHMRA), in conjunction with Travel Michigan and Michigan State University. Additional details and lodging information are available at the 2007 Driving Tourism Conference link (PDF). For more information, contact Steve Yencich, MHMRA, at (517) 267-8989. michigan.org Web Site Updates — A Travel Perspective January 2007 web visits that were served Travel content at michigan.org have increased by 49 percent over the same period last year. January 2007 web visits totaled over 828,000 compared to over 555,000 for 2006.
Total January click-throughs from michigan.org to Michigan travel industry web sites were over 293,000, an increase of nearly 24 percent over 2006. 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, January 2007 Report The latest report from Smith Travel Research on the performance of the U.S. lodging industry shows Michigan starting the new year with a somewhat lower occupancy rate than last January. The January occupancy rate for Michigan was 44.0%, below the national average of 52.8% but above a number of other states despite the last-place standing the state held at the end of 2006. With a 44.0% occupancy for the month of January 2007, Michigan fell 2.0% from the same month last year when its occupancy stood at 44.7%. U.S. occupancy was 1.4% lower than January of last year. While the state’s performance was somewhat lower than the national average, Michigan did perform better than nine other U.S. states during January of 2007. This is a markedly different performance from the past two years when Michigan’s occupancy rates were at, or near, the bottom for nearly three years running. The Detroit area continues to show a similar performance to that exhibited by Michigan as a whole. By the end of 2006, Detroit ranked 25th among the 25 largest U.S. metro markets in occupancy. But for the first month of 2007, Detroit ranked 20th with an occupancy rate of 51.7%. This was a 1.0% decline over January 2006. While U.S. occupancy was 52.8%, the top 25 markets together stood at 59.8%, 1.3% below January of 2006.
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. PR Star of the Month Mike Norton, who handles media relations for the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau, is a public relations professional who not only delivers great information and ideas, but is quick to respond to requests from the media and Travel Michigan. You’re on the Air! Here’s a great opportunity for you to promote your destination. Each week, Travel Michigan is “on the air” on Detroit’s “Great Voice of the Great Lakes” News Talk 760 WJR. Each Sunday from 7:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., George Zimmermann, Dave Lorenz, Kirsten Borgstrom, WJR on-air personality John McCulloch and a variety of guests explore Michigan events and attractions on AM-760. Travel Michigan is always looking for guests to share information about their destinations. If you are interested in a great awareness opportunity that’s free of charge, drop us a line or give us a call. Please note that interviews are booked 4-6 weeks in advance. For more information, contact Kirsten Borgstrom at (517) 335-1871. In the News
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