Hospitality and tourism groups unite to push for $50M in Pure Michigan funding

Hospitality and tourism groups unite to push for $50M in Pure Michigan funding
The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Credit: Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau

A dozen statewide groups are banding together ahead of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2024-25 budget presentation to advocate for a huge jump in Pure Michigan funding, among other policy goals.

The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, with an assist from the Michigan Travel Commission, announced Tuesday it launched the Michigan Hospitality and Tourism Alliance, a collaboration with 10 other statewide and regional organizations representing hospitality and tourism-related industries.

The group said its mission will be to educate stakeholders, elected officials and industry leaders of the importance of their sectors to Michigan’s overall economy and to advocate for “appropriate funding streams” to ensure its future success.

Justin Winslow, president and CEO of the MRLA, told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business Tuesday the group’s initial focus is to advocate for a $50 million budget allocation for the Pure Michigan advertising campaign ahead of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2024-25 budget presentation on Wednesday.

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The move comes after the state Legislature and executive office last June agreed to slash Pure Michigan’s budget to $15 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Winslow called Michigan’s level of funding “lacking” compared to other Midwestern states like Minnesota and Wisconsin, which allocated about $41 million and $67.4 million, respectively, for their 2023-25 budgets.

“These are competing states, and we’re dramatically larger than them as a state, in terms of population and total revenue, but we are lacking in our investment with $15 million being the existing Pure Michigan budget right now,” Winslow said. “The hope and the goal here is to unify with one clear message, at least out of the gate, the one thing that brings all these groups together — the desire to see Pure Michigan invested in a way that I think the data justifies, in a way that we are not being funded right now, for reasons that remain unclear.”

After legislation enacted in 2010 allowed the state to include a separate budget line item specifically for tourism promotion, the Pure Michigan budget steadily grew from $25 million in 2011-12 to $35 million in 2018-19. Whitmer used a line-item veto in 2019 to nix that year’s planned $37.5 million allocation. The state allocated $15 million from the general fund during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

For the 2022-23 budget, Pure Michigan got a $15 million allocation from the general fund, $15 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and a $10.3 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, for an all-time high budget of $40.3 million.

Whitmer’s initial 2023-24 budget proposal included plans to direct $15 million in federal funding to Pure Michigan alongside a $15 million state general fund allocation. However the $15 million that was to come from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund established as part of the American Rescue Plan Act was eliminated because the fund ended with the COVID-19 emergency, according to previous reporting from Crain’s.

Patrick Brys, chair of the Michigan Travel Commission, said in a statement that consistent messaging will help the alliance achieve its funding and policy goals.

“When the industry speaks with one unified voice, the industry wins,” he said in the statement.

In addition to the MRLA and Michigan Travel Commission, the alliance’s founding members include the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau, Michigan Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, Michigan Association of Recreation Vehicles and Campgrounds, Michigan Boating Industries Association, Michigan Brewers Guild, Michigan Festivals and Events Association, Michigan Snowsports Industries Association, Tourism Industry Coalition of Michigan, Traverse City Tourism and Visit Detroit.

The alliance plans to host a legislative reception in Lansing this year and attend several policy conferences across the state to communicate industry priorities to stakeholders.

Winslow said he is hopeful additional interest groups and convention and visitors bureaus, including Experience Grand Rapids, will join the alliance soon.

“There’s a long list already, just by word getting out … but that list is growing, and I think we’ll see a lot more jumping on in the near future,” he said.  

 

Adding a legislative caucus

The Michigan Hospitality and Tourism Alliance also said Tuesday it has created a bipartisan, bicameral Hospitality and Tourism Caucus that will work with the alliance to “better understand the challenges and opportunities that impact the industry.”

The founding members of the caucus include co-chairs Sen. John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs, and Rep. Will Snyder, D-Muskegon, as well as Sen. Kevin Hertel, D-St. Clair Shores, and Rep. Nancy DeBoer, R-Holland.

Damoose said in a statement he is “proud to be a co-founder” of the caucus, as the hospitality and tourism industries are especially key in his district spanning Northern Michigan and the eastern Upper Peninsula.

“Given the unique challenges faced by this industry in the past several years — from COVID to regulatory burdens — it is critical that legislators come together to help,” he said.

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