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Pure Michigan Tourism Conference Summary
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Pure Michigan Tourism Conference Summary

Check This Out, Events, Lodging, Traverse City

Pure Michigan Tourism Conference Summary

Dave Lorenz presents at the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Traverse City

The Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism was held in Traverse City last week. Representatives from convention and visitor bureaus and hospitality professionals from across Michigan gathered to learn about the state of our tourism state.

We had a legislative report from a panel of lobbyists in Lansing. Our keynote speaker addressed the State of the American Traveler. And Dave Lorenz provided an update from Travel Michigan including plans for this year’s Pure Michigan campaign.

Since I know many of our clients missed out on attending I thought I’d share a recap of the event. Here are some of the hot topics, statistics and strategic plans discussed at the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism that caught my attention.

Pure Michigan Legislative Report

Panelists: Michael Krombeen, Partner, Midwest Strategy Group; Matt Sowash, lobbyist, Michigan Legislative Consultants; Justin Winslow, President & CEO, Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association; Evelyn Zois Sweeney, Legislative Consultant, Muchmore Harrington Smalley & Associates. The panelists discussed topics of legislative interest to the hospitality industry and weighed in on the current climate in Lansing.

Pure Michigan Funding

Governor Whitmer’s proposed budget includes cuts to funding for Pure Michigan. Panelists agreed this is too early in the budget talks to be certain of funding dollars for this year. Lobbyists from Michigan Legislative Consultants agreed they are going to educate and push for as much Pure Michigan funding as they can.

Post-Labor Day Start

This is not only an issue of economic importance, but a workforce issue as well. Currently over 165 districts have waivers for pre-Labor Day start. Legislative discussions are exploring alternative schedules. These include allowing Tues-Thurs classes in August, as well as options for year-round classes.

Snow Days

Legislation has been proposed to allow schools options to deal with the increasing number of snow days. Possibilities include tacking on additional hours to the school day, and snow day forgiveness for Governor-declared emergency days.

Short Term Rentals

Panelists discussed addressing short term rentals in terms of regulation. The primary goals are to ensure everyone is paying into the same taxes & assessments. They are also seeking some form of registration, possibly by directly licensing platforms such as AirBnB.

Auto No Fault

This is becoming a hot button issue for the hospitality industry as employees struggle to afford insurance. Panelists discussed the likelihood of making significant changes this year, with mixed opinions.

State of the American Traveler

Keynote speaker; Erin Francis-Cummings, Destination Analysts

Erin’s presentation, “The State of the Global Traveler – Drawing Wanderlust to Michigan,” presented statistics and trends to watch in 2019 among travelers. Here research reflected the mindset of global travelers, indicated some key demographics to focus on, and gave insight into the changes we’re seeing. Here are few take-aways that illustrate the current state of the industry.

The bad news: Leisure trips are down from 4.2 trips annually to 3.8 trips, and budgets are down 5.6%. Personal finances, work and the cost of travel are the primary reasons for the decrease.
The good news: Travel is still listed as the second most important leisure activity, just under spending time with friends and family. For younger travelers, however, travel competes with a lot more activities.
4 primary traveler types: Generation Z, the National Park Traveler, Family Travelers and Aspiring Michigan Travelers.

Generation Z

The youngest travelers are that of Generation Z—ages 15-24. To reach this audience you’ll need video. You can find them on Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. Believe it or not they already make up 13.9% of the travel market.

National Park Travelers

This audience tends to be young and travels with their children. They use all types of planning resources. Primary interests include culture and food. They make up 31% of American travelers.

Family Travelers

Representing 47% of American travelers, this is clearly a popular target audience. This group is largely made up of women who frequently travel outside the U.S. This is a very social audience with 50% using Facebook to post both before and after their trips. They like AirBnB and are drawn to cultural and culinary experiences.

Aspiring Michigan Travelers

This is an ethnically diverse audience, largely made up of millennials and Generation X. They like to research travel destinations through travel apps, social media and tourism bureaus. Online video is important and influential.

Only 16% of American travelers aspire to visit Michigan. So how can we compete with other states and attract more travelers to Michigan? (Can you believe we fall behind Ohio!) The number one reason a destination remains top of mind to visitors is because they’ve been there before. The influence of friends and family impacts 65% of travelers. To grow our Michigan brand we need to gain loyalty. We need our visitors to continue to share their love of this region with friends and family—especially if they’ll share it on their social channels.

Michigan Cares for Tourism

This 501c3 non-profit is made up of volunteers from the tourism industry who want to give back to projects across the state of Michigan. They tackle small projects throughout the year and host an annual multi-day volunteer event in a select location. This year’s project is in our own backyard.

Michigan Cares for Tourism is seeking volunteers for the 2019 event at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse in Leelanau State Park, September 16-17, 2019. There are enough projects for 325 volunteers! To register visit michigancaresfortourism.org. C’mon Traverse City, let’s send some volunteers to help our neighbors. It’s a good excuse to hang out in a park on a Monday and Tuesday in the fall.

To kick off the conference, MC4T held an event at Munson Manor where volunteers donated toiletries, cooked food and tackled painting projects. Check In Michigan, the organization behind the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism, donated $10,000 to MC4T, with donations made on behalf of the conference speakers.

Pure Michigan Campaign Update

Dave Lorenz, Vice President of Travel Michigan made his annual trip to the stage to provide an update on the state of our tourism state. He delivered a report on the investment and returns on the 2018 Pure Michigan campaign. Next he shared a few highlights and top performing projects which earned significant results. And we wrapped up by hearing about some focus points for 2019. Here are a few of the take-aways.

Measurable Results from the $16.5 Million Advertising Investment in Pure Michigan in 2018

Influenced 6.4M person-trips
$2.5B in visitor spending
$153M generated in state taxes
$9.28 return on investment

Want to check out all the details? Here’s a link to the Pure Michigan Advertising Effectiveness Study. You can find more about what Travel Michigan is doing for you on Michigan.org. At the bottom of the page click Travel Industry and then look for Research.

Social Media Summary

Nick Nerbonne, MEDC Digital Media Director responsible for Pure Michigan social media accounts provided some additional insight during one of the social media sessions. Facebook engagement is down, however user base is still growing. Instagram engagement is up by 75%, due in part to the popularity and use of Instagram stories.

Pure Michigan has been exploring some longer-format feature videos to provide in-depth experiences. They include interviews that explore why people are passionate about these activities.

Two hugely popular social media campaigns were hashtag projects that drove user-generated content. The #FallFilter invited fans to share fall photos. Pure Michigan selected 5 photos each Friday and reposted. Another campaign debuted on billboards in Chicago seeking images at #LongLiveSummer. The digital billboard published user photos from that hashtag, sharing them on billboards for all to see.

Top social media post subjects in 2018 from Pure Michigan included images of the Mackinac Bridge, fall foliage, wildlife, ice waterfalls, Vernors lighthouse cans and blue ice on the Straits of Mackinac. Favorite fan subjects to share were sunsets, fall colors and Michigan lakes.

Pure Michigan Ad Campaigns and Projects

Pure Michigan partnered with influencers and publications last year to grow their brand awareness. Ginger Zee, meteorologist on Good Morning America and a Michigan native, was part of a social media promotion. They also teamed up with Outside Magazine for an engaging online experience that involved video creation, a landing page and interactive trail map.

Other notable projects included the Pure Michigan 18 – featuring 18 signature golf holes across the state in a season-long invitation to share your experience playing that hole. And an Urban DNA video series with Jason Hall was created to boost the state’s appeal for travelers seeking a world-class city experience.

We wrapped up with some sneak peeks into plans for 2019. Pure Michigan intends to focus more on digital platforms, targeting millennials, promoting the Upper Peninsula and highlighting our Dark Sky Parks.

Accessibility Takes Center Stage

One other significant take-away which made me very proud is our state’s focus on accessibility. If there was one buzz-word of this year’s conference that would be it. All three winners of the Stars of the Industry award for tourism innovations were programs and organizations supporting accessibility. Pure Michigan is embracing the opportunity to make our state more friendly to people with disabilities. And I for one couldn’t be happier to see it.

With three days of meetings, events and networking there was a lot to take in at the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism. It was great to see the new conference center at the Park Place Hotel, and the remodeled Governors’ Hall at the Grand Traverse Resort & Casino. Traverse City Tourism played host to a bustling crowd of tourism professionals from across the state. And I even had a chance to meet a few people who mentioned they tuned in to our channel and saw me on TV!

Now it’s time for us all to return to the business we live everyday: celebrating the reasons we choose to call Pure Michigan our home.

By Brandy Wheeler|2019-03-12T22:26:39-04:00March 12th, 2019|Check This Out, Events, Lodging, Traverse City|0 Comments

Traverse City, a Pure Michigan Destination

Pure Michigan debuts the new Traverse City “True North” ad today.

I’m excited to see my hometown featured on the Pure Michigan campaign, where millions of viewers can admire our beautiful community from a comfy cushion in their living room as Tim Allen’s voice lulls them into a state of utopia. With any luck they’ll be convinced that Traverse City is where they want to spend their next vacation.

And since planning the vacation is part of the fun, I hope the next step they take is to reach for their iPhone and download our handy mobile guide, the Traverse Traveler app. It’s a great resource for designing that trip to Traverse —whether you’re at home, abroad, at an airport or lying in bed watching TV.

Click here to download the app on your iPhone!

Traverse Traveler iPhone app

By Brandy Wheeler|2019-12-26T15:50:28-05:00June 14th, 2011|Check This Out, Traverse City|0 Comments

Proposed "Bed Tax" Increase to Boost CVB Marketing Efforts

hotel bed tax image Regional Convention & Visitors Bureaus throughout the state are faced with the question of whether or not to increase their room assessment, also known as a “Bed Tax” from 2% up to 5%.

What’s the impetus behind this proposal? And what do our local CVBs plan to do? Here’s what I discovered.

The facts on Bed Tax

If you’ve ever studied your bill after checking out of a hotel in other Michigan cities of a similiar size you’ll notice a 2% fee in addition to sales tax. This is the room assessment, casually referred to as a Bed Tax. This fee is collected by lodging properties with 10 rooms or more, throughout Michigan. The purpose is to create a source of income to be spent on tourism marketing efforts, which in turn benefit the travel and tourism industry.

So, what’s the difference between an assessment and a tax? A very important distinction: A tax is levied on the public as a whole, and therefore must benefit everyone. An assessment is imposed on a specific group, who in turn receive the benefits. In 1984 Michigan Public Act 59 set the room assessment rate at 2%. A figure which has been in place ever since. To change this rate requires an amendment to the legislation. Which is exactly what happened last autumn. This amendment passed into law on December 5, 2010.

Travel Michigan, the State department responsible for the program, issued a referrendum to allow districts the opportunity to increase their rates from 2% up to 5%.

Benefits of a rate increase

I first learned of this proposed increase at a recent meeting of the Grand Traverse Area Hotel Motel Association. Brad Van Dommelen, President of the Traverse City Conventions & Visitors Bureau, spoke to the members about the reason for the proposed increase and what the CVB would like to do with the funds.

Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau recommendion is to increase the assessment to the maximum amount allowed of 5%. Their goals for the increase include:

Enhance their group sales effort to attract more regional and national associations
Create a year-round marketing effort with ongoing campaigns in major focus cities
Partner with Travel Michigan to create a national “Pure Michigan” ad specifically promoting Traverse City

By law, the majority of the room assessment must be spent on marketing.

According to Van Dommelen, while some funds go to operational costs, and improving group sales may require additional staff, “the vast majority of the increase will be spent on ad buys.”

Five years ago, the TCCVB spent approximately $40,000 on advertising and promotion. Last year this number was $660,000 on ad buys alone. A 3% hike in room assessments would mean a huge increase in purchasing power for the region.

What does this mean for Traverse City travelers

If the proposal passes, guests staying in Traverse City hotels will pay a 5% room assessment, and 6% sales tax, for a total of 11% at the bottom of their bill. TC visitors currently pay 8% total. On a $100 room the increase amounts to less than the cost of a latte. And for these few dollars per room, they can strengthen the marketing initiative that puts diners in restaurants, cars at the pump, tasters in wineries and golfers on the greens. We all know this is a beautiful destination. Perhaps we just need to a louder voice to let everyone else know.

Hotel reactions

The Grand Traverse Area Hotel Motel Association announced their support of the proposed increase at the February meeting. According to Jonathan Pack, GTAHMA president, “The board is cautious of any assessment increase, but our focus is on national advertising that would show off Traverse City’s many new national awards, like Top Ten Beach Town (awarded by AOL Travel), Top Ten Fall Color Town (awarded by Tripadvisor.com), and Top Ten Wine Town (awarded by USA Today). Without the increase to the maximum amount of 5%, the capital needed to do a national campaign would take a many years, and the recent awards would be relatively old.”

Pack’s sentiment was echoed by many of the hoteliers I spoke with at the meeting, and since. When asked about their reactions to the proposal, so far, everyone’s response has been positive.

Bryan Moore of the Courtyard Marriott is in favor of the increase as a means for remaining competitive. “So many small communities have jumped on and increased rates. We don’t want to be lost or left behind.”

The travel and tourism industry is a competitive market. There’s a sense that the communities out spending money on advertising are the ones who reap the rewards with more visitor traffic.

Jeannie LaBonte, at the North Shore Inn is also in favor of the increase. “Whatever we can do to bring people up to Traverse City. It’s important.”

But in the end, it is up to each and every property in the district.

Approval process

In order to make the change each lodging property with 10 or more rooms, receives a ballot. The hotels must approve the referrendum by a simple majority. Each property receives one vote per room. The ballots are sent back to Travel Michigan, where they are counted and verified by a separate agency.

The Traverse City CVB began this process early this year. Ballots were due back to Travel Michigan on February 28th. The results of the proposed increase should be known by the middle of March.

If the proposal is approved the new rate will begin on April 1, 2011.

Where do other communities stand

Since I work with many businesses and properties in Benzie County I spoke with Mary Carroll, the Executive Director of the Benzie Area CVB, to find out about their plans.

Mary explained, “we are suppportive of the legislation that allows this to take place. But our board has decided not to increase at this time.” She explained their board is comfortable with the current assessment and the ways they are utilized for marketing. Even a two percent increase would double their budget. But they wonder, “if we had 50% more money, does that mean we can bring 50% more visitors to the area?”

The law passed on December 5, 2010 which allows each district the option to increase their room assessment up to 5%. Since that time several communities throughout the state have started this referrendum process, including Holland, Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette, some of which have completed their approvals.

By the end of the month we’ll know if Traverse City will have more funds to spend on marketing.

“We’re a four seasons destination. And we need marketing out there promoting us in all four seasons. Our product is gorgeous. I truly believe this is what we need to move us forward.”

— Brad Van Dommelen

Resources:

For more information on the history of this legislation and Michigan assessment districts click here to check out the Destination Marketing Organization Manual for Michigan Assessment Districts.

By Brandy Wheeler|2019-12-26T16:00:47-05:00March 9th, 2011|Lodging, Traverse City|0 Comments

Mealtickets on Pure Michigan blog

In case you missed it, yesterday I was the guest blogger on the Pure Michigan blog. The post promotes one of my favorite fall activities: An M-22 Color Tour.

Check out the Pure Michigan post, Top 10 Reasons for a Fall M-22 Roadtrip.

And for a more details, and a dozen other favorites along Michigan’s scenic highway, read my original article: 22 Reasons for a Fall M-22 Roadtrip.

By Brandy Wheeler|2019-12-26T16:51:46-05:00September 15th, 2010|Benzie, Mealtickets News|0 Comments

A Front Desk Perspective on Summer Tourism

Hotels Report a Super Summer. Will it be a Fabulous Fall?

What better gage for summer tourism than the comments of staff at area hotels? I spend much of my time in and out of their lobbies refreshing our Mealtickets displays. This provides a great opportunity to chat with hotel staff about their impressions of the industry, the effectiveness of the Pure Michigan campaign, and their expectations for the upcoming fall season. I thought I’d share what they had to say about the state of Traverse City’s summer tourism.

Whether it’s Weather, or Not

Everyone agrees this summer was one of the warmest and most beautiful summers in recent memory. For some local resorts, it’s the best summer they’ve seen in 10 years, and they haven’t been in business that long. But what effect does the weather have on their occupancy rates? A dramatic effect.

Overall, resorts large and small saw record breaking numbers this summer, and most attribute it to the weather. The summer sun draws visitors to enjoy our beaches and outdoor activities, in part as a retreat from the brutal heat of the larger inland cities.

Rich Maxwell Jr., owner of the Restwood Motel in Traverse City agrees.

“We had one of the best July and August room sales in the last 20 years. We had a modest increase for July and a huge increase for August, (of coarse last August was one of our worst ever). Everyone wants to know WHY well in my humble opinion it was the weather. I think the economy is as bad or worse than last year, but the travelers just wanted to get away from the heat in the big city’s.”

What About the Pure Michigan Campaign?

Many of Michigan’s tourism-based organizations have been supportive of the continued funding of Travel Michigan’s Pure Michigan Campaign including the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association, The Grand Traverse Area Hotel Motel Association and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. After missing fall and winter ad promotions due to lack of funding the campaign received $20 Million just in time for the summer media buys. My question for local hotel managers was, “did it help?”

According to Nick Trahair, general manager at the AmericInn in Traverse City, it did.

“The summer was a record year. Pure Michigan had a lot to do with driving out of state traffic into our hotel. We saw many more out of state plates compared to years past. We also had a lot of people talk about the area – not knowing what Michigan truly offered as many think of Michigan to be “Detroit” and not everything else it had. Many people who were here this summer talked about returning and our fall bookings are ahead of pace from history.”

And he’s not alone. Most hotel managers and staff I spoke with agreed that the Pure Michigan campaign does drive visitors from out of town into our part of the state. Jonathan Pack, general manager at the Cherry Tree Inn, and president of the GTAHMA looks at it this way,

“It’s hard to say the good numbers are from the Pure Michigan ads because we have had such fantastic weather. My honest opinion is that without the Pure Michigan ads, we would be much worse because we wouldn’t see those increases in the markets outside of Detroit.”

What’s interesting about this summer, more than year’s past, are reports from hotels entertaining so many first-time visitors. Some attribute this to the success of the campaign shedding a beautiful light on our region. Others gave credit to family and friends who recommended the Traverse City region as their favorite place to visit. Whether it’s word-of-mouth or advertising dollars at work everyone was glad for the boost in business.

Other Factors Affecting Summer Tourism

While the weather and advertising play a huge role in the number of rooms filled on a summer night, there are a few other interesting factors that came into play this season. Some were short term, and others could reflect a growning trend.

On the short term I was rather surprised to discover we may have inadvertently benefited from the tragedy in the Gulf. While oil spewed with seemingly no end into the waters of the Gulf Coast, visitors who typically spent some of their summer on oceanfront beaches opted for our freshwater coastlines instead. A few properties we work with began receiving calls early this summer looking for condo openings for long stays and cited the spill as their reason for traveling north instead of south this year. While they were pleased to accommodate new visitors, everyone feels for the gulf coast areas who are suffering a business loss from that tragic event, and wishes them a strong and quick recovery.

Forecasting Beyond the Weather

Forecasting is a necessary component of hotel management. And just like the weather it requires a strategic approach, but predictions are often inacurate. Hotels use forecasting to determine expected occupancy rates for the coming season. They translate this information into statistics to plan advertising campaigns, target discounts and to determine staffing.

The surprising trend, which I’ve heard about for the last couple seasons, is that visitors are making their travel plans at the last minute rather than weeks or months in advance. This makes forecasting much more difficult.

Mike Hall, general manager of the Days Inn in Traverse City explains,

“We really saw a shorter period of time from reservations made to actual arrival. Traverse City has historically been an area where advance reservations are the norm. However, this year, especially, we have seen 20-30 room reservations per night on Thursday and Friday nights for Saturday arrival. This has put our forecasting, such as it is, out the window.”

What’s the Outlook for Fall?

As Labor Day represents the unofficial end of summer we turn our heads to fall. Apparently we also turned our backs to the cool winds that have been blowing in low temps to make it feel like October. Which illustrates the point quite well. Fall is all about the weather. If it’s a beautiful indian summer hotels expect to continue to see solid bookings. Many speculate on an early turning of the leaves and thus an early push for fall visitors. But let’s face it, no one knows what’s coming around the corner as far as the weather is concerned.

What the hotels are is optimistic.

“Many people who were here this summer talked about returning and our fall bookings are ahead of pace from history. We expect to continue strong like we have the rest of the year and finish with one of the best years on the books,” said Nick Trahair.

And in case you’re wondering, Mealtickets & Unusal Ideas displays will be there at the front desk waiting for them to arrive.

“Travelers are asking a lot of questions these days – looking for family friendly places to see, do and eat. If we can put something in their hand with information – we have found more interest. When we tell them about someplace and can only show a location on the map – they immediately go back asking questions about what is in front of them,” Trahair added.

So I’ll continue my rounds refilling displays, talking to the hotel staff and providing visitors with great ways to enjoy their trip to Traverse City. Cards in hand.

By Brandy Wheeler|2019-12-30T09:49:47-05:00September 9th, 2010|Mealtickets News, Traverse City|0 Comments