Lansing, MI - Travel Michigan's Pure Michigan advertising campaign continues to deliver a significant return on investment (ROI) according to a recent study conducted by Longwoods International, a research firm specializing in tourism advertising return on investment.

According to the study, the first-ever national Pure Michigan advertising campaign last spring and summer motivated 680,000 new trips to Michigan from outside the Great Lakes region. Those visitors spent $250 million at Michigan businesses last summer as a direct result of the Travel Michigan advertising program. In addition, these new out-of-state visitors paid $17.5 million in state taxes while in Michigan, yielding a $2.23 return on investment for the tourism advertising. Pure Michigan television commercials aired nationally 7,900 times on 15 cable channels in 2009, and they were seen by an estimated 60 million Americans from coast to coast.

In addition, the study also determined the effectiveness of the campaign on the regional level. Longwoods International assessed the impact of the 2009 Pure Michigan summer advertising on the residents of the Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Ontario, Canada markets. The focus of the study was to quantify the levels of travel generated by the advertising and the economic impact of that travel. The Pure Michigan campaign was able to improve its regional return on investment from $2.86 since 2004 to $5.34 in 2009.
 
"Combining our national and regional advertising last spring and summer, the Pure Michigan campaign motivated two million trips to Michigan from out of state last summer, and those new visitors spent more than $500 million at Michigan businesses," said George Zimmermann, vice president for Travel Michigan, a business unit of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. "But these very positive results will be fleeting if we do not adequately fund national and regional Pure Michigan advertising in 2010 and beyond."
 
The total tourism promotion budget for all seasons in 2009 was $30 million, which ranked Michigan as the sixth largest state tourism promotion budget in America. The current appropriation for tourism promotion in 2010 is $5.4 million, which would reduce Michigan's state tourism budget ranking to approximately 42nd in the nation.

Join us on February 18th at the Chamber's Annual Meeting.  We'll give you an update on the progress we made during 2009 and what we are planning for 2010.

Meet NASA Astronaut Charles Hobaugh.   Colonel Hobaugh will be the guest speaker at the annual meeting.  We'll all enjoy hearing about Colonel Hobaugh's most recent mission to the International Space Station.

VOTE!   Help us select the winners of the FM Mansfield Business Award and the Historic Business award.  FM Mansfield nominees are DayMakers Day Spa, Frank's Place and Shelley White-Thomas Law Firm.   Historic business nominees include Edison Sault Electric, Nevilles Superette and U.P. Tire.  Click here for a ballot.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!  $35.00 per person.  Sponsorship opportunities are still available.  Click here for Banquet Sponsorship information.  Click here to register for the Banquet.  Or, just call us, 906-632-3301.

Invitations for the annual banquet were included in the January issue of the chamber newsletter.