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Tourism
Matters
Serving the Tourism Industry of Michigan
 Winter
2000/2001
|
Sally J.
Carpenter - editor |
Shopping destination for men in Michigan, six million shoppers expected. . .
Actually, the Cabela's Dundee sporting goods store in
Monroe County promotes “unforgettable family adventure”. The store has
225,000 square feet of showroom built to bring the outdoors in. This Dundee
store is the largest that Cabela’s owns. The day I visited, there were
scuttle trams in the parking lot to transport customers to and from their
vehicles. The store is a monument to wildlife with a 40-foot tall mountain
complete with North American animal mounts 
posed
on it and live fish in the
streams. Full body mounts of deer, elk, moose, bear, sheep,
beaver and others
cover the mountain
on all sides, as if in the wild. In other areas of the
store there are exotic big-game animal mounts displayed in their natural
habitat. This store is the only retail establishment that I have visited were
customers bring their camera to photograph the scenery inside.
The store also has a 250-seat restaurant. A 65,000-gallon aquarium stocked with Michigan game fish and computerized information to learn more about the fish habitat. My granddaughter, age six, was delighted with the computer learning method. There is also an art gallery, a furniture section and gift shop, plus usual sports clothing, camping gear, gun and bait shops, bargain area, archery shooting range, and laser arcade. There is an auditorium and conference rooms available for rent to groups that seat nearly 400 people.
The grounds around the shopping area have a six-acre lake and walking trail. There is plenty of parking for semis, RVs and buses. As well they should, Dundee is only seventeen miles off the I-80/90-toll road. You can image that this retail store will be surrounded by lodging, being built right now. Cabela’s expects six million visitors in the first year. Check out their web site at www.cabelas.com
Keep in mind that Dundee is a community of 2,075 people. Oh the changes they will see in their historic downtown, and outlying areas. The candle shop and other stores downtown better gear up for thousands of women shoppers.
Marketline
is a new on-line directory of buyers and sellers of Michigan grown
agricultural products. If you are
a buyer or seller of fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers or other items grown,
processed or created on local farms, you should know about the Marketline web
site. If interested e-mail miffsmkt@msu.edu
or phone (517) 432-0712. Marketline
is a USDA-MDA funded project with the focus on a website where buyers and
sellers of locally grown products and farm-based recreational opportunities
can be identified. This Internet
directory targets both wholesale and retail on and off the farm.
It lists products and services by county and provides contact
information. Michigan Integrated
Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS) a non-profit organization has created the
marketline.
The
Michigan Business Report is now accepting advertisements.
Circulation is 24,000 Michigan business owners.
Contact James Fry (888) 303-3110 or e-mail frytravel@worlnet.att.net
for information.
More
vacationers choose learning over lounging, a trend toward educational travel
is here to stay, industry people say. Read
more about it in our next issue of Tourism Matter.
Michigan
Museums Association, Marketing the Michigan Experience, November 1 and 2
was a great way to interact and learn about historical marketing.
The conference was about creating quality experience around history and
culture. Contact Michigan Museums
Association, Lansing, MI to get on their mailing for other educational events.
On
my trip to Alaska in August I discovered a new way of thinking about
promotional brochures. Alaska is
made up of environmentally concerned business people who want to conserve
resources. The most popular
brochures in display racks are business card size (2 X 3 1/2 inches) most are
a single fold, and all are full color. You
would be amazed at the amount of information and maps you can get on a single
fold business card. Business can
cut printing cost, the mini brochures are easily displayed on racks and
travelers can put the brochure in their wallet, purse or backpack and feel
good about less resources used. E-mail
me and I will send you some copies of mini brochures. Before you head to the
print shop, think mini!
Travel
Michigan released findings from a recent survey that show strong support for
the state's new four-day Labor Day weekend—which had its first test this
year. The informal survey of
convention and visitors bureaus from throughout the state showed the extended
holiday helped boost the summer travel season—and support for continuing the
extra day was universal. A new
law passed last year, Public Act 141 of 1999, requires Michigan public schools
to close the Friday before the traditional end-of-summer holiday, beginning
this year and lasting for three years. The
survey of convention and visitors bureaus found nearly 50 percent reporting
increased tourism activity and spending and 74 percent said the weekend had a
positive impact on their activity levels.
Travel
Michigan’s Top-Notch Ads
Travel Michigan won a bronze Adrian
Advertising Award in the 1999 Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association
International Travel Competition. Each
new resident received a mailing stressing the beauty and excitement of their
new home state. In addition, they
were able to submit the names of two friends or relatives, each of whom
received a personalized letter from Governor John Engler, asking them to visit
their friend in Michigan. The
campaign targeted people over 25 years of age who moved from a non-Michigan
zip code to a Michigan zip code during the months of January through March
1999. It was designed to increase
tourism leads to the Travel Michigan website, www.michigan.org,
from both in and out-of-state residents.
Demographic
Trends for Michigan Families. At
the October MSU Extension Conference, a program for Extension people, revealed
the following useful information to tourism.
High school graduation rates increased from 1990-98 by 8.8 percent.
But, Michigan lags behind the nation for persons age 25 and over with a
college degree. In 1990, 20.3
percent nationally had a college degree; in Michigan the rate was 17.4
percent. Even though Michigan’s
overall unemployment rate was low in 1999, some counties experienced rates of
over 10 percent. They are
Cheboygan, Presque Isle, Montmorency.
The service
industry accounts for more than one-fourth of all employment in 1998. Leading
retail and wholesale by 7.7 percent. Jobs
in services have risen the fastest of all industries.
If you are marketing to households in Michigan, keep in mind that 28.5
percent are married couples without children, 26.6 percent are married with
children, and 23.7 percent are single persons living alone.
Only 10.4 percent are single parent families with children.
Michigan leads
most Mid-West states in median household income at $38,127.
We are ranked fourth among 12 states in our region.
Nationally we rank in the top third.
The U.S. median income is $35,492. Livingston,
Oakland, Ottawa and Clinton have the highest median household income in
Michigan.
How can this
information fit into your marketing plan? Mary Lou McPherson, from MSU
Extension, put this together from recently released census data.
She tells me to watch for similar information about each of our
counties, will be available soon. I
will keep you posted on this.
www.miffsmarketline.org
www.msu.edu/~miffs
Sign up now for
you FREE web site listing with MARKETLINE, a new
on-line directory of buyers and sellers of Michigan grown agricultural
products!
Whether you are
a buyer or a seller of fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, or other items
grown, processed or created on
local farms, you’ll find MARKETLINE web site connection offers
convenient access to timely information that will expand local farm market
opportunities while promoting Michigan agriculture. Interested?
Please contact MIFF at:
MARKETLINE is a project of the Michigan Integrated Food & Farming Systems; promoting Michigan produced agriculture products by linking buyers and sellers.
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| Tourism Area of Expertise Team Michigan State University 172 Natural Resources Bldg. East Lansing, MI 48824-1222 Phone: 517-353-0793 Fax: 517-432-2296 |