INTRODUCTION

This Web site contains tourism profiles for each of Michigan's 83 counties. The profiles are intended to help developers, tourism professionals, public officials, and others make informed decisions regarding the tourism industry in a given county. They are the culmination of a two-year project of Michigan State University's Tourism Area of Expertise (TAoE) Team. The TAoE Team is a group of Michigan State University Extension professionals who are dedicated to enhancing Michigan's tourism industry through education and technical assistance programs. To our knowledge, no similar project has been undertaken in any other state.

The profiles are presented in alphabetical order by county name. The locations of the various counties are shown on the map on this Web site. All profiles contain the same types of information and are organized in the same way.

The statistics in the profiles are the most current that were available at the time the profiles were developed. Efforts are underway to update many of them. Our plan is to keep the information in the profiles as current as possible.

In compiling the statistics for this project, emphasis was placed on including those statistics that were generated by the same source, resulted from the same methods, and pertained to each county in the state, as opposed to including statistics that were generated by different sources, resulted from different methods, and pertained to only certain counties. This was done to maximize the comparability of statistics from one county to another. Such comparability is important in assessing an individual county's competitive advantages and disadvantages in relation to other counties in Michigan.

Every effort was made to maximize the accuracy of the information presented in the profiles. In particular, drafts of each profile were reviewed by Extension professionals and tourism industry professionals (e.g., convention and visitors bureau directors, chamber of commerce executives) in the individual counties. Please contact Phil Alexander (alexande@msue.msu.edu) or Teresa Herbowicz (herbowic@msu.edu) about any additions and/or corrections that you feel would be useful.

The most recent edition of the county tourism profiles.

Intelligent use and interpretation of the information contained in the county tourism profiles requires an understanding of the nature and limitations of this information. This section is added to provide readers with such an understanding. Please contact Donald Holecek (dholecek@.msu.edu) if you require further explanations.

The profiles contain State of Michigan sales and use tax collections statistics obtained from the Michigan Department of Treasury. Statistics are presented on the sales tax collections of family restaurants and cafeterias and on the room use tax collections of hotels, motels, and tourist courts. Local residents, as well as travelers, of course patronize both types of establishments. However, in most cases seasonal variations in the tax collections of these establishments can be largely attributed to influxes of tourist spending.

In addition to sales and use tax collections for family restaurants and hotels, motels, and tourist courts shown in the profiles, sales and use tax collections statistics are available from Michigan State University's Travel, Tourism, and Recreation Resource Center (TTRRC) for many more business sectors, including: gasoline service stations, watercraft sales and service, men's and boy's clothing, women's clothing, women's accessories, family clothing, shoe stores, Class C taverns, beer and wine taverns, night clubs, hotel dining rooms, fast food restaurants, drug stores, liquor stores, sporting goods stores, rooming and boarding houses, and trailer parks. All tax statistics are available by month and county for 1983 through 1997, in both electronic and hard copy format. Contact Donald Holecek (dholecek@.msu.edu) for details.

SALES AND USE TAX DEFINED

The sales tax is a flat tax on receipts for persons selling at retail in Michigan (Michigan Department of Treasury, 1985:6). The tax is levied on gross proceeds from sales at retail of tangible personal property. "Tangible personal property" means goods that can be possessed and exchanged, with the exception of real property. All prepared food and drink items (including alcoholic beverages) sold by eating and drinking places are subject to the sales tax (Michigan Department of Treasury, 1979:50). At present the sales tax is 6%.

The room use tax is a 6% tax levied on the sale of transient hotel or motel room rentals. It is levied on the rental of "rooms or lodging furnished by hotelkeepers, motel operators and other persons furnishing accommodations that are available to the public, on the basis of a commercial or business enterprise, irrespective of whether or not membership is required for use of the accommodations, except rooms and lodging rented for a continuous period of more than one month" (Michigan Department of Treasury, 1984:17). The types of establishments that must pay the room use tax include inns, motels, tourist houses, nudist camps, apartment hotels, resort lodges and cabins, and certain camps operated by other than nonprofit organizations. Hospitals and nursing homes are not included (Michigan Department of Treasury, 1984:17).

The statistics presented do not include interest or penalty revenue. Statistics for a given period represent the amount of sales and use tax liability incurred during that period rather than the amount of sales and use tax revenue received by the Department of Treasury during that period. The State of Michigan's room use tax is independent of other room use taxes levied by local lodging assessment districts. That is, the Michigan room use tax is 6% of the price of a room, not 6% of the price of a room plus the cost of other assessments.

LIMITATIONS OF SALES AND USE TAX COLLECTIONS STATISTICS

Idiosyncrasies in Reporting Periods

Some smaller firms pay sales and/or use taxes quarterly or annually rather than monthly. The tax payments of firms that pay quarterly are included only in the third month of each quarter (i.e., March, June, September, and December), even though these firms may have transacted business during each month of a given quarter. Similarly, the tax payments of firms that pay annually are included only in December. Thus, the sudden upswings in tax collections statistics for March, June, September, and/or December in the case of some counties may have resulted from idiosyncrasies in reporting periods as opposed to increases in business activity during these months.

The sales and use taxes owed by franchise corporations (e.g., Holiday Inns) are paid in a lump sum by the corporate headquarters rather than by each of their affiliated properties. Consequently, these payments are recorded for the county or state containing the corporate headquarters. If the corporate headquarters is out-of-state, for example, payments would be included solely in the "out-of-state" row of the Department of Treasury's tables rather than the rows for individual counties containing properties affiliated with this franchise corporation. If franchise businesses conduct a significant share of the business in a given county, the sales and/or use tax statistics for that county will underestimate the volume of this business activity.

When businesspersons apply for a sales tax license or a use tax registration, they complete an application that requires them to state which of the Department of Treasury's Business Classification Codes (BCCs) "best describes" their "principal business activity." These responses are the basis for Treasury's categorization of sales and use tax collections under specific business types.

Someone operating a hotel in most cases would select BCC 701 - "Hotels, Tourist Courts, Motels" as the best description of their "principal business activity." However, if this hotel contains a restaurant which the applicant considers his or her "principal business activity," then he or she may classify the entire enterprise under BCC 584 - "Hotel Dining Rooms." Similarly, those operating ski areas containing lodging facilities may classify their enterprises under BCC 794 - "Sports Promoters and Commercial Operators, Miscellaneous Amusement and Recreation Services" rather than under BCC 701 - "Hotels, Tourist Courts, Motels." Thus the sales and use tax collections recorded under various BCCs may not include the payments of all enterprises involved in some way in the type of business included in that BCC.

The BCCs used by the Michigan Department of Treasury are not identical with the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes employed by the federal government and the Michigan Employment Security Commission. While there are similarities between the two systems, there are also many differences. For example, BCC 557 is Watercraft Sales and Service, whereas SIC 557 is Motorcycle Dealers. These differences may affect the comparability of the sales and use tax collections statistics presented in the profiles to statistics based on the SIC system.

Because of tax cheating, sales and use tax collections statistics in some cases may not fully reflect business transactions. The Department of Treasury does not consider tax cheating to be a serious problem. However, the exact magnitude of the problem is unknown.

The above difficulties limit the usefulness of sales and use tax collections as indices of business volume. These statistics can, however, be useful in documenting patterns and trends in business activity. For example, if it can be reasonably assumed that changes in tax collections in a given county and BCC are not the result of businesses: (1) altering their business classification with the Department of Treasury, (2) changing their status as an independent or franchise business, and/or (3) increasing or decreasing tax cheating, then these shifts in tax collections can be attributed to changes in the volume of business activity in that county and BCC.

ANALYTICAL METHODS FOR SALES AND USE TAX COLLECTIONS STATISTICS

On May 1, 1994, the rate for both the sales tax and the use tax increased from 4% to 6%. To ensure comparability with tax collections figures obtained from the Department of Treasury for previous years, tax collections statistics used in trend and seasonality analyses and pertaining to time periods after April 1994 were adjusted by dividing them by a factor of 1.5. This yielded figures that represent the amount of tax that would have been collected if the tax rate had remained at 4%.

Changes in lodging use tax collections figures reflect changes in the prices charged at lodging establishments as well as changes in the number of overnight stays at such establishments, so it was necessary to remove the effects of inflation to determine the extent to which patronage of lodging establishments in a given county increased or decreased in real terms. Changes in the "Lodging While Out of Town" category of the U.S. Consumer Price Index were used to deflate use tax collections statistics. These figures reflect changes in the lodging prices in large cities in the U.S. as a whole. Trends in lodging prices in Michigan, of course, may have differed to some extent from those of the entire nation. However, reliable deflators pertaining strictly to Michigan or individual counties in Michigan are not available.

"Average annual change" is the geometric mean of the rates of change in the use tax collections figures portrayed in the graph on the first page of each profile. This statistic is the same as the rate of interest in the familiar compound-interest formula.

The estimates of market share, trip volume, and tourist expenditures on the second page of each profile were derived from the Travel Market Survey being conducted by the TTRRC. This survey has been in continuous operation since October 1995. Data are being collected in a computer-assisted telephone interviewing laboratory maintained by the TTRRC. The survey population consists of adults age 18 or older who permanently reside in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Ontario. The survey employs random digit-dial samples of household telephone numbers in this region purchased from Survey Sampling, Inc. On the average, about 425 interviews are conducted each month. Interviewing occurs on weekday evenings and weekend afternoons. Up to three call-backs are made for each household in the designated sample. Interviewers randomly select respondents within households by asking to speak "to the adult over 17 years old who will have the next birthday."

The response rate, including partially-completed interviews, is 44%. The response rate, including only fully-completed interviews, is 35%. About 29% of eligible potential respondents refuse the interview. This is similar to the median refusal rate computed from reviews of telephone surveys conducted by Wiseman and McDonald (1979), Steeh (1981), and Groves and Kahn (1979). A test for possible nonresponse bias in the data revealed few important differences between the characteristics of 173 nonrespondents (other than refusals) and a subsample of 173 randomly selected respondents on 84 variables, including demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The only differences between the two groups that were statistically significant at the .05 level were: (1) nonrespondents were more likely to have visited a state or national park on their most recent pleasure trip in Michigan (43% vs. 28%), (2) nonrespondents, on the average, rated the desirability of Ontario as a pleasure trip destination on a 10-point scale more highly than did respondents (6.7 vs. 5.2), and (3) nonrespondents, on the average, tended to live in households containing somewhat fewer persons than did respondents (2.6 vs. 3.1).

During interviews the word "trip" is defined as "any overnight or day trip to a place at least 50 miles from your home, unless it was taken in commuting to work or school." A "pleasure trip" is defined as "any overnight or day trip to a place at least 50 miles from your home that was made for your enjoyment, including vacations, weekend getaways, shopping trips, and trips to visit friends or relatives."

Data were weighted to correct for uneven participation across the state and provincial boundaries of the study region such that the resulting weighted sample conformed to the distribution of households in the six states and Ontario. Data were also weighted by month to correct for minor variations in the number of completed interviews during each month of the study period. For purposes of the profiles, this study period was defined as January 1996 through December 1996.

Every effort was made to maximize the accuracy of estimates derived from this survey within the limits of the project budget. However, these estimates are inevitably affected to some extent by all of the errors commonly associated with sample surveys, including sampling, recall, data processing, and possibly other errors.

Inventories of museums and historic sites open to the public were developed from lists of attractions published in tourist guides distributed by the American Automobile Association (AAA) (1991), Amusement Business (1990), the East Michigan Tourist Association (1990), the Metropolitan Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau (1990), the Michigan Museums Association (1990), the Michigan Travel Bureau (1990), Mobil Oil Corporation (1991), the Upper Peninsula Recreation and Travel Association (1990), and the West Michigan Tourist Association (1990). The use of multiple sources helped to ensure the completeness of these inventories.

The statistics on number of agriculture/tourism facilities were derived from a data base developed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and supplemented by information published in Hunt and Hunt (1992) and Zehner (1993). The statistics on miles of designated scenic highway were derived from AAA and Rand McNally highway maps and information published by DeLorme Mapping Co. (1991). The statistics on miles of designated hiking, cross-country skiing, and/or mountain biking trails were derived from information published in Hansen (1994). The statistics on number of golf courses open to the public were derived from information published in Rasmussen and Rasmussen (1996).

The statistics on miles of Great Lakes coastline include the coastlines of islands and connecting waters (e.g., St. Mary's River), and were obtained from Humphrys, et. al. (n.d.). The "acres of forest land" variable can be considered a proxy for the natural beauty (including fall color potential) of a given county. The variable includes both public and private forest land. Much of this private land is also open to the public for recreational purposes. "Natural heritage sites" include scenic vistas, unique geological features, significant wildlife observation areas (listed in DeLorme Mapping Co. 1991 or Sharp, et. al. 1991), and major waterfalls in a given county.

Historic sites, golf courses, and campgrounds not open to the public were excluded from the relevant inventories. The public recreation land variables exclude acreages managed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Native American tribes, and educational institutions. Further information on the nature and sources of inventory statistics may be found in Spotts (1996) or Spotts (1997).

Many additional statistics on the recreation and travel resources in a given county are available from the TTRRC. Contact Teresa Herbowicz (herbowic@msu.edu) with your inquiries..

LITERATURE CITED

American Automobile Association (1991). TourBook: Michigan Wisconsin. Heathrow, FL: American Automobile Association.

Amusement Business (1990). Funparks Directory: 1990 International Guide to Tourist Attractions, Themed Parks and Fun Parks. Nashville, TN: Amusement Business.

DeLorme Mapping Co. (1991). Michigan Atlas & Gazetteer. Fourth edition. Freeport, ME: DeLorme Mapping Co.

East Michigan Tourist Association (1990). East Michigan Travel Planner. Bridgeport, MI: East Michigan Tourist Association.

Groves, Robert M. and Robert L. Kahn. (1979). Surveys by Telephone: A National Comparison With Personal Interviews. New York: Academic Press.

Hansen, Dennis R. (1994). Trail Atlas of Michigan. Okemos, MI: Hansen Publishing Co.

Humphrys, C.R., Ali Razaque, J.O. Veateh, and Rex Yu (n.d.). Preliminary Report: Statistical Data Related to Michigan Water Resources and Water Uses. East Lansing, MI: Dept. of Resource Development, Michigan State University.

Hunt, Don, and Mary Hunt (1992). Michigan Fresh: A Food-Lover's Guide to Growers & Bakeries. Albion, MI: Midwestern Guides.

Metropolitan Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau (1990). Detroit Visitors Guide. Detroit, MI: Metropolitan Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Michigan Department of Treasury (1979). State of Michigan General and Specific Sales and Use Tax Rules. Lansing, MI: Michigan Department of Treasury, Sales and Use Tax Division.

Michigan Department of Treasury (1984). State of Michigan General Sales Tax Act, Use Tax Act. Lansing, MI: Michigan Department of Treasury.

Michigan Department of Treasury (1985). Business Guide to Understanding Michigan's Sales and Use Taxes. Lansing, MI: Michigan Department of Treasury.

Michigan Museums Association (1990). Michigan Museum Guide. Flint, MI: Michigan Museums Association.

Michigan Travel Bureau (1990). Michigan Travel Planner. Lansing, MI: Michigan Travel Bureau.

Mobil Oil Corporation (1991). Mobil Travel Guide: Great Lakes. Deerfield, IL: Prentice Hall.

Rasmussen, Roy, and Betty Rasmussen (eds.) (1996). 1996 Michigan Golfers Map and Guide. Plymouth, MI: RSG Publishing, Inc.

Sharp, Eric, and the Free Press staff (1991). Michigan Outdoor Guide 1991. Detroit, MI: Detroit Free Press.

Spencer, Daniel M. (1998). Tourism Profiles of Each County in Michigan. A Project of Michigan State University Extension's Tourism Area of Expertise Team. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Extension.

Spotts, Daniel M. (1996). "A Regional Analysis of Michigan's Tourism Resources for Marketing Purposes." Michigan State University Agricultural Experiment Station Research Report #542. East Lansing.

Spotts, Daniel M. (1997). "Regional Analysis of Tourism Resources for Marketing Purposes." Journal of Travel Research. 35(3):3-15.

Steeh, C.G. (1981). "Trends in Nonresponse Rates: 1952-1979." Public Opinion Quarterly, 45:40-57.

Upper Peninsula Travel and Recreation Association (1990). Michigan's Upper Peninsula Travel Planner for All Seasons. Iron Mountain, MI: Upper Peninsula Travel and Recreation Association.

West Michigan Tourist Association (1990). West Michigan Travel Planner. Grand Rapids, MI: West Michigan Tourist Association.

Wiseman, Frederick and Phillip McDonald (1979). "Noncontact and Refusal Rates in Consumer Telephone Surveys." Journal of Marketing Research, 16:478-484.

Zehner, Mary D. (1993). "Listing of Municipally & Community Sponsored Retail Farmers' Markets in Michigan: October 1993." Staff Paper No. 93-49. East Lansing, MI: Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University.

The most recent edition of the county tourism profiles