$10M tourism ad campaign promoting state starting

Michigan will spend $10 million promoting tourism this spring, taking its “Pure Michigan” campaign national for the first time by advertising on 15 cable networks. The new effort seeks to diversify Michigan’s pool of tourists, The Associated Press reports. State residents now make up 70 percent of Michigan’s tourists.

The Pure Michigan ads have taken a decidedly environmental and natural approach to tourism. The ads haven’t focused on man-made attractions in Michigan, but instead encourage people to visit the state for its natural wonders, especially the Great Lakes.

The state’s tourism budget is pushing this message hard by spending a record $30 million promoting the state in last year’s budget.

It may be able to spend even more if a group of tourism and business groups can convince the legislature and governor to spend up to $90 million in federal stimulus money on tourism promotion.

The state’s tourism promotion agency has said that for every $1 spent on outreach, the state receives $2.82 and the private sector gets $40.

Of course, even the best-laid tourism promotions strategy could be fouled by gasoline prices. If levels hit the $4-per-gallon mark again this summer, fewer people may travel to the state.

Michigan tourism declined 12 percent last year, according to Comerica Bank’s Michigan Tourism Index. During the 2001 recession tourism fell 11 percent. The 2008 fourth quarter fell was the worst in Michigan tourism history in 16 years.

Comerica’s chief economist, Dana Johnson, expects continued declines, but predicts that decrease will taper off in a few months.

“Similar to so many other measures of economic activity, the decline in our tourism index accelerated markedly in late 2008,” Johnson said. “With the national and state economy still clearly contracting in early 2009, further declines in the Michigan Tourism index seem inevitable, as households and businesses cut back on discretionary travel. By midyear, however, declines in tourism are likely to become less severe, as recessionary pressures begin to moderate.”

(Justin Miller is a political journalist based in Wayne County who has worked for Real Clear Politics, blogged for The Atlantic and covered the 2008 elections in Ohio for The New York Observer’s Politicker.com network of state politics news sites.)