LANSING – With the beginning of the school year bringing another summer vacation season to a close, State Representative Kate Ebli (D-Monroe) today applauded the success of the "Pure Michigan" campaign in making Michigan a top destination for travelers. Ebli noted that the award-winning travel campaign dovetails with her efforts to expand Michigan's tourism industry, which will pump much-needed dollars into local communities and create jobs for our residents.
"Our state offers a huge diversity of destinations, from the summertime favorite of the Cherry Festival in Traverse City to the family tradition of the Monroe County Fair," said Ebli, who is Chair of the Tourism Promotion Subcommittee, a bipartisan state panel aimed at boosting tourism in Monroe and across the state. "Michigan has 97 state parks, more than 800 golf courses, and a 200-mile Shore-to-Shore Trail. The only difficult part about vacationing in Michigan is trying to decide which of the many destinations to choose from. It's important to have effective campaigns that reach out to vacationers around the United States and Canada, and the 'Pure Michigan' campaign has done that."
The Travel Industry Association of American late last month awarded "Pure Michigan" – a campaign that kicked off in select national markets in April – with the Mercury Award for Best State Tourism Campaign. Our state's tourism Web site, Michigan.org, is consistently among the top-ranked state tourism sites for the Web traffic it spurs, according to the international tracking company Hitwise. An estimated 190,000 jobs in our state are directly related to tourism.
"Tourism is one of the state's top three industries, and increasing the tourism dollars that flow into Michigan is one of my priorities," Ebli said. "Our state faces difficult fiscal times, and the more we do to attract year-round tourism to our state, the more we strengthen our local economies. I will continue working hard to find creative avenues to spread the word about everything Michigan has to offer."
View the "Pure Michigan" ad campaign at Michigan.org/travelads.