September 1, 2003
The Muskegon Chronicle
By Dave Alexander

Tourism was big news in Muskegon during the summer of 2003 and it wasn't just about people camping at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park, or visiting Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park or touring the USS Silversides.

Although Muskegon was one of a handful of communities in the state whose tourism numbers were up -- thanks mostly to the maturing of high-profile festivals -- there was other tourist-related news, which could bode well for future seasons.

* A high-speed ferry between Muskegon and Milwaukee was announced this summer. Lake Express LLC of Milwaukee began construction on a $18 million vehicle/passenger vessel that is expected to begin operations in June.
* The Fourth of July weekend maxed out the tourism industry in Muskegon County, with another overlap of the Muskegon Air Fair and Muskegon's Summer Celebration.
* The regional tourism campaign, Michigan's West Coast, was launched and began to market the urban tourist experience of Grand Rapids with the beach experience of the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Muskegon County Tourism Development Director Joanne Hatch said the events of the summer show the progress the community has made in its tourism industry.

We have broadened our horizons, Hatch said. Look back 10 years ago and people -- me included -- never thought we could become a destination. We are now a destination and we continue to grow in a very positive manner.

West Michigan's leading tourist attraction -- Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park -- had a slow start to the season because of the unseasonably cool June and wet July. But, with near perfect August weather, crowds built throughout the latter half of the season until two Saturdays in August reached record-breaking numbers, according to park General Manager Camille Jourden-Mark.

Michigan's Adventure's parent company Cedar Fair LP will not announce seasonal park attendance totals until later this fall, Jourden-Mark said. However, Hatch predicted that the amusement park will show improved numbers vs. last summer when 420,000 attended.

Grand Haven, too, bucked the state trend and experienced tourism growth.

Marci Cisneros, Grand Haven/Spring Lake Area Visitors Bureau director, said tourism numbers from April through July were up, with some months registering 7 percent increases.

The Michigan State University Travel, Tourism and Recreation Resource Center predicted a decrease in travel spending across the state, with a few exceptions, notably the lakeshore communities, she said.

Travel Michigan's Lake Michigan Beachtowns campaign brought more visitors into the Grand Haven area, Cisneros said.

West Michigan communities participating in the Beachtowns campaign include Muskegon, Holland, Silver Lake, Hart and Ludington. This year, the target areas were Chicago and Indianapolis.

Muskegon County's tourism strength in past years should not be a complete surprise, said Wood, who has worked in the tourism promotion business in West Michigan for the past two decades.

Muskegon County has been working on tourism for 15 or 20 years, Wood said. It just didn't happen overnight. We are now seeing the payoff. I see Muskegon becoming a real competitor with others on the Lake Michigan coast.

Hatch said she spent last week at a statewide conference of convention and visitors bureau directors, finding that she was one of a few reporting positive numbers for this year. While the industry trend was down, she said Muskegon County had a stable tourism market the past two years because of its festival development.

Hatch said the community needs to continue to exploit the Heritage Landing festival grounds on Muskegon Lake with new ethnic festivals based on Muskegon's African American and Hispanic heritage. An expanded festival offering could keep Heritage Landing in use all summer, she said.

The Unity Christian Music Festival has come on as a strong force in the local festival lineup. In three years, Unity has become financially successful, drawing 40,000 people for the three-day event in August.

This is the second time in three years Muskegon has hosted a tall ships event, and even though crowds were down this year, Hatch said it was a successful event in the quality of the experience and its draw of out-of-town visitors.

Hotel and motel operators on the county tourism advisory committee said that the tourism industry must demand that the festivals not overlap on such a popular travel weekend.

We turned away thousands of customers, said Susan Jenkins, manager of the Best Western Inn & Suites of Whitehall. With hotels filled, visitors stay in other communities. If the events were spread out, other less-popular weekends could become just as busy, the hotel operators said.

Gamal Elkhouly, general manager of Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor, agreed. We are sending our room tax dollars and our business to Grand Rapids on this weekend, Elkhouly said.

We need to fix it, she said.

Something not in need of repair is the growing reputation of Pere Marquette beach as a clean place to swim and play. Thanks to a monitoring and reporting effort by the Muskegon County Health Department, Hatch said the city of Muskegon has been able to receive the Blue Wave certificate from the Clean Beaches Council in Fredricksburg, Va.
The designation has generated publicity in such publications as National Geographic Traveler, USA Today, The Detroit News, The Boston Globe and The Chicago Tribune. Hatch said this free publicity is priceless.

We can't afford those kinds of publications with such a national scope, Hatch said. The bureau's advertising budget is about $150,000.

Muskegon's close relationship with the Grand Rapids-led Michigan's West Coast tourism promotion campaign has helped get the Pere Marquette clean beach story out this summer, Hatch said. The regional effort has, in part, brought national travel writers through Muskegon in February and July with another group expected in September, she said.

Lastly, the summer of 2003 might be remembered for finally completing a deal that would relink Muskegon to Milwaukee with cross-lake ferry service. A ferry has not run between the two communities since 1970, and re-establishing that link has been Muskegon's No. 1 economic development priority.

The tourism industry needs to spend this winter preparing for the expected launch of the Lake Express service in June, Hatch indicated. The county already has plans for a new packaging program to sell cross-lake ferry tickets in conjunction with motel stays, meals in local restaurants and admissions to area attractions.

With the cross-lake ferry, we not only double our market geographically but we also are able to move into a more densely populated urban area (Milwaukee), Hatch said. And guess what, they don't have the beaches. That's where the clean beaches become key.

© 2003 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission