LANSING -- The following is a message from Gov. Granholm:
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has signed legislation transferring $10 million from the 21st Century Jobs Fund to pay for the successful Pure Michigan advertising campaign. The money is in addition to the $5.4 million allotted for the tourism campaign in the fiscal year 2011 budget. The money will help pay for winter and spring/summer ad campaigns.
“The Pure Michigan ad campaign has been a proven success – bringing visitors to Michigan, supporting local businesses, creating jobs and generating genuine excitement in the tourism industry,” Granholm said. “The funding allows us to advertise Michigan’s wealth of winter activities to potential visitors from Chicago and other key out-of-state markets in Ohio and Indiana.”
Since its launch in 2006, the Pure Michigan campaign has been recognized for its creativity and effectiveness, including being listed by Forbes in 2009 as one of the ten best tourism promotion campaigns ever created worldwide. Pure Michigan was recognized in 2007 by the U.S. Travel Association as the Best State Tourism Advertising Campaign. In August 2010, USA Today did a front-page feature story on state tourism branding and advertising which showcased Pure Michigan as the primary success story.
More importantly, according to independent research, Pure Michigan has produced results for Michigan businesses and the state of Michigan. According to a four-year study of Pure Michigan out-of-state summer advertising from 2006 to 2009, that advertising brought 5 million new out-of-state visitors to Michigan during that four year period; visitors who spent $1.3 billion at Michigan businesses and paid $93 million in Michigan taxes, primarily state sales tax. In fact, for each dollar invested in Pure Michigan advertising, the state got back $2.94 in new, incremental taxes paid by these out-of-state visitors.
Michigan’s tourism industry is a vital component of the economy. Visitors to the state spend $15.1 billion annually traveling in Michigan, generating $850 million in state taxes and supporting 142,500 jobs for Michigan residents.
The legislation signed is now Public Act 271 of 2010.
