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May 14, 2009
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Michigan Tourism Talk on Tap Monday at Tri-County Economics Club
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Steve Yencich (R) of Michigan Lodging & Tourism Association, and George Zimmerman, director of Travel Michigan want you to know about 'PURE MICHIGAN'
If you watch TV, you've seen the ads.
Michigan is spending $30 million on its first nationwide tourism advertising campaign, called "Pure Michigan."
How is it doing?
Travel and tourism leader Steve Yencich will update Bay area business people on the trends and economic potential of tourism in Michigan at the Tri-County Economics Club's monthly meeting Monday at Saginaw Valley State University.
Mr. Yencich is a Certified Association Executive, (CAE) and has worked in the field of association management for over 24 years.
He has served as the Michigan Lodging & Tourism Association's (MLTA) President/CEO since the fall of 2000.
Prior to his arrival at MLTA, Steve worked for over 15 years for the Michigan Association of Insurance Agents.
In the eight years since his arrival, Steve has diligently worked with staff and volunteers to refocus the Association on its original mission and purpose, "Leadership that represents, promotes and educates Michigan's lodging and tourism industries."
In 2006, the State of Michigan merged its annual tourism conference into MLTA's convention. Starting with 275 attendees that first year, the event has grown to include over 575 people.
Working with concerned lodging and tourism business owners from across Michigan, Steve helped lead successful grassroots efforts to pass legislation requiring all schools to open after Labor Day.
Under Steve's leadership, the association has also played a pivotal role in passing legislation providing additional funding for Travel Michigan's tourism promotion program.
Michigan's first-ever national advertising campaign on March 30th on 15 national cable channels: Golf Channel, Travel Channel, A&E, Bravo, Style, Fine Living, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, E!, DIY Network, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Fox News.
The $10 million national campaign runs through June and is expected to reach 60 million Americans with the airing of 5,500 Pure Michigan commercials. "There are millions of Americans who know little or nothing about the quality and variety of our tourism product, and this campaign has been launched to change that," said George Zimmerman, director of Travel Michigan.
"And while the campaign has just started, we already are seeing some early results. Traffic to michigan.org for the first nine days of April is up 19 percent over the same period last year.
"During our presentations to receptive tour operators in New York the second week of April, the operators complimented the campaign, and some are beefing up their Michigan itineraries because of it.
"And finally, the stream of emails we get from consumers praising Pure Michigan also has gone national. I share just one to give you a flavor of what we are hearing, this about our commercial "Sunrise":
"Your ads on TV got me at 25,000 mornings! I was walking through the family room, and your ad caught me. What an amazing way to advertise. I want to come to Michigan now! The ad made me stop in my tracks and realize how short life really is. Wonderful ads! Keep them coming. I live in Knoxville, Tennessee and would love to come to Michigan just based on your ad. Thanks for making me take the time to breathe in and reflect on the time we have left on this earth. Thanks Michigan! Kari"
"For the Pure Michigan campaign to continue to grow and expand, we need to continue to prove its results. You might recall that as recently as 2005, our tourism promotion budget bottomed out at $5.7 million," said Mr. Zimmerman. "This year we have the largest tourism promotion budget in Michigan's history, $30 million."
Mr. Zimmerman said one of the keys to recent budget increases is the results of the annual advertising return-on-investment research commissioned since 2004. Our latest advertising ROI research provides the following results:
1) From 2004 to 2008, $26.34 million was spent on out-of-state advertising.
2) That advertising motivated 5 million new trips to Michigan.
3) Those visitors spent $1.1 billion at Michigan businesses.
4) That spending generated $75.3 million in new, incremental state tax collections.
"So, for each dollar we spent on out-of-state advertising during the past five years, $40.81 was spent at Michigan businesses and $2.86 was collected by the state treasury. The bottom line is this: our Pure Michigan advertising more than pays for itself."
For more information, contact George Zimmermann at (517) 335-1879.###
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