Michigan Tourism Leaders Talk Industry, Economy at Dearborn Inn

Michigan tourism and travel leaders sent a clear, positive message to attendees of the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce Business Builder Breakfast on Wednesday at the : The industry is doing well, and Michigan is profiting. Big time.

A panel discussed changes to Michigan's tourism industry, as well as how businesses–big and small–can benefit from it. The panel included David Lorenz, Michigan Economic Development Corporation manager of public and industry relations; Patricia Mooradian, president of ; Larry Alexander, president of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Ken Hayward, executive vice president of Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel.

Much of the discussion surrounded the impacts of the successful Pure Michigan campaign–a marketing tool that, most recently, has helped put The Henry Ford, Traverse City and Mackinac Island on the national tourism radar through television commercials.

Mooradian said that The Henry Ford is already seeing results.

"We can see how Pure Michigan is starting to make an impact," she said, adding that they measured a 25-percent increase in out-of-state visitors from the summer of 2009 to the same period in 2011. "We credit Travel Michigan and Pure Michigan for a big part of that."

"The state needed Pure Michigan," Alexander added. "We already had the facilities and product, but we didn't have the vehicle to promote it."

Lorenz, who works directly on the Travel Michigan campaign, said that Pure Michigan has been a boost for residents, too.

"(Pure Michigan) engenders a sense of pride," he said. "If there's one thing this campaign has done, it's that it reminded people that this state is worth fighting for."

And it doesn't hurt that tourism in Michigan, promoted largely by the campaign, has created jobs and brought money into the state. Lorenz said that the MEDC's 2010 numbers showed a $2-billion increase in travel spending, fueling 10,000 jobs and making tourism Michigan's second-largest industry, generating $18 billion of in-state spending per year.

"It really is amazing," he said. "If you build it and promote it, they will come–if you have the product."

But promoting Michigan, Mooradian added, is as much a job for residents and small-business owners as it is for large companies. That fact, she said, has been exceptionally true in Dearborn.

"This touches every organization, because the visitors that visit us stay at hotels in Dearborn; they eat in Dearborn," she said. "They are coming here for a full experience, so it's all of our jobs to make sure it's the best experience it can be."