Increasingly, as companies move their production arms overseas, cities in North America are coming to rely on tourism to boost their economic prosperity. However, many cities find if difficult to compete with Puerto Vallarta, Mexico condo rentals because people have very little idea of what there is to do for fun in their own back yards. To help boost the profile of Michigan in the minds of North Americans who are planning their vacations, the state has launched a new tourism campaign known as Pure Michigan. Here are some of the highlights.
Getting the Word Out
The first step in any tourism campaign is to make sure that people all over the world, whether they're running franchises in Canada or trekking the Andes, that the destination exists. To get the word out about all that Michigan has to offer, Pure Michigan has taken a many-pronged approach. First, they've created a modern, searchable, user friendly website that is easy to find in search engine results. They've also made television and radio ads and bought ad space across the continent. And thirdly, they've made free brochures and vacation guides that are easy to get a hold of.
Concentrating Information
One of the things that hampers a city's efforts to attract tourists is that even when nearby towns and cities are easily accessible from one another, the tourism information on them is kept completely separate. Therefore someone traveling from an English school in Canada to Lansing for a conference would have no idea that it's less than an hour's drive to Grand Rapids, where they can go on a river rafting trip. Pure Michigan is a Michigan wide initiative, so all the information is concentrated in one place that's easy to access.
Introducing Year Round Activities
The problem with attracting tourists to a more northerly destination like Michigan is that people don't think that there's anything to do in the winter apart from sit in the garage and play with used woodworking machines. So they all go south where it's warm. But Pure Michigan aims to dispel this notion by putting emphasis on winter activities like downhill skiing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, snowboarding, and even dog sledding!
Featuring Attractions and Businesses
Searching on their own, most people would never be able to dig up some of the truest gems that Michigan has to offer, because they're located outside of the main cities. With their weekly feature section, Pure Michigan encourages tourists to pack their babies' diapers and head for places like The Henry Ford in Dearborn, picturesque Mackinac Island, which is one of the top ten islands in the world, and the town of Frankenmuth, which bears strong resemblance to Bavaria in Germany.
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