COVID-19 will always be a part of our lives, but that’s hasn’t stopped people from traveling, especially here in northern Michigan.
Manistee saw an incredible spike in tourism this past year.
While most vacation spots saw more business compared to 2020, the Manistee County Visitor’s Bureau reported a significant increase that first began before the pandemic even started.
“We’re the undiscovered gem, actually, of the West Coast of Lake Michigan and I think people are starting to recognize that,” said Director of Economic Development for the Manistee Chamber Marc Miller.
The county generated over $13 million in lodging sales in 2021 – a more than 30% increase from 2020.
“It turned into what was really, the best tourism year for the area,” said Board Chair for the Manistee County Visitor’s Bureau Tim Riley.
With the Lake Michigan beachfront, those warmer months are easily their most popular.
“We see the majority of lodging sales through those core summer months of June, July, August, and September,” said Riley.
Tourism has been growing steadily for the last five-plus years.
“It’s not a surprise that we’ve seen the growth from before the pandemic, even as a baseline to now, because we really have been investing in our businesses, our downtown, the offerings that we have,” said Miller.
The visitor’s bureau predicts an even more successful year in 2022.
“This growth is going to continue, I don’t think it’s going to continue at the same pace it did before, certainly we saw that big rise because of the pandemic, but certainly continued growth is to be expected for our area,” said Riley.
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