Fund Pure Michigan in Lame Duck
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Steve Yencich
Nov. 3, 2010517-267-8989, Cell 517-256-5657
“Pure Michigan” AdsNeed Funding in Lame Duck to Promote Winter Season
Going Dark in Winter Will Kill Michigan Jobs, Sales Tax Revenues
LANSING, Mich. —If the Governor and Legislature fail in the Lame Duck session to agree on a way to add $25 million in Pure Michigan funding for winter and spring tourism promotion ads, the state will lose thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax and other revenues.
“The good news is the Governor and legislative leaders have announced support for additional funding for Pure Michigan ads, but the bad news is they disagree on the revenue source,” said Steve Yencich, president and CEO of the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association (MLTA). “If they let Pure Michigan ads go dark by keeping the promotional budget at one of the lowest in the nation, they are effectively killing thousands of Michigan jobs and forgoing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for our state.”
Funding for Pure Michigan in the FY 2011 state budget remains at $5.4 million, one of the lowest levels nationwide. Yencich said the Governor and Legislature have plenty of time between now and Dec. 31 to approve the revenues and a revenue source. But he warned that the time spent after January 1st as a new Governor and freshmen legislators take office, prepare budgets and determine committee assignments may not leave enough time to pass a funding package for next summer’s campaign.
“If funding isn’t secured during lame duck, we’ll completely lose the chance to promote this year’s winter season resulting in more jobs lost. Worse still, it will be difficult, perhaps impossible to pass a funding package in time to put Pure Michigan in play for next summer which would cause even more jobs and tax revenues to be lost”
Independent research released this year confirmed the highly praised Pure Michigan national ad campaign successfully attracts tourists from other states, protecting thousands of Michigan tourism jobs. A Longwoods International report released Feb. 4 said the summer 2009 Pure Michigan national ad campaign motivated 680,000 new trips to Michigan from outside the Great Lakes region. Those visitors spent $250 million at Michigan businesses last summer and paid $17.5 million in state taxes.
The national campaign which aired ads in all 50 states generated $2.23 in revenues for every $1 spent on the ads, Longwoods concluded. Longwoods also measured the impact of Pure Michigan summer 2009 advertising on residents of regional markets — Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Ontario. Longwoods found the regional campaign improved its return on investment to Michiganfrom $2.86 in 2004 to $5.34 in 2009.
Yencich said that the State Constitution mandates that the majority of sales tax revenues go to support schools and provide revenue sharing funds for cities. “If Pure Michigan goes dark that means millions of dollars lost for better schools and millions less in state funds for essential services such as police and fire protection back home.”
Travel Michigan’s total tourism promotion budget for all seasons in 2009 was $30 million, which ranked Michigan as the sixth largest state tourism promotion budget in America. The current appropriation for tourism promotion in 2011 is $5.4 million, which would reduce Michigan’s state tourism budget ranking to about 42ndlowest in the nation.
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Based in Lansing, the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association is a 105-year-old trade association that educates, markets, and advocates on behalf of Michigan’s lodging and tourism industries.