A story in The St. Ignace News' ongoing series bringing our readers fresh perspectives on the top issues facing the Straits area and the Eastern Upper Peninsula.

Continuing its successful radio advertising campaign to attract visitors from neighboring states, plus emphasizing the city as a convention destination, are part of the approach Sault Ste. Marie will take to promote local tourism this year. Partnering with the state in radio and Web site advertising has already paid off for the city, promoters say.

The Sault Ste. Marie Convention and Visitors Bureau plans to spend $30,000 on a series of radio advertisements this summer in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to try to attract more tourists to the city. Two commercials featuring the voice of actor and Michigan native Tim Allen are expected to hit the airwaves in the Green Bay area in mid-May, said visitors bureau executive director Linda Hoath. This will be the third series of radio ads the visitors bureau has placed in out-of-state markets since 2007.

All three campaigns were in conjunction with Travel Michigan's Pure Michigan effort, which matches the dollar amounts spent on campaigns in the project. Overall, the visitors bureau has spent $165,000 on radio advertisements since it began participating in the Pure Michigan project, spending $75,000 in 2007 and $65,000 in 2008.

Past advertisements were heard on radios in Green Bay, along the western shore of the Lower Peninsula, and twice in Toledo, Ohio. The ads are targeted toward women age 35 and older.

The bureau gets its funding from a 2% tax on every hotel room sold in the area, totaling around $270,000 annually, Ms. Hoath said. It is working in conjunction with several groups to help promote and attract new events and conventions to the city. The bureau has working relationships with Lake Superior State University, city government, Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce, and economic development corporations on both sides of the international border.

Sault Ste. Marie events the bureau is helping with this summer include Engineers Day June 26, which allows for a closer look at the Soo Locks and nearby hydroelectric power plant; the 23rd annual International Bridge Walk June 27; the sixth annual Veterans Motorcycle Rally July 9 through July 11, which helps support veterans; the Sault International Arts Festival, which has many music, theater, and artistic events scheduled between June and August, and the Maritime Hall of Fame induction and banquet in September, which will include a raffle for four to tour a freighter.

The bureau is also helping to organize the first Sault History Fest August 14 and 15, with a goal of raising funds to restore the Bishop Baraga historic home. The festival will feature music, reenactments, information, and food.

"For a small CVB, we seem to get our fingers into a lot of things," Ms. Hoath said. "Working together is so much better. In this world today every little bit helps."

James Hendricks, executive director for the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) there, said his organization is happy to work with the visitors bureau on community projects and events when it can. The EDC typically deals more with manufacturing, business, and economic development in the area.

"There's a lot of collaboration that takes place up here. It might be some involvement or benefit to the area that we can see by pooling our resources," he said. "We all work together pretty closely here."

How advertising helps

Last year the number of out-ofstate tourists to the city surpassed the number of in-state tourists, Ms. Hoath said, increasing from 30% to 58%. She attributes this directly to the radio ads through Travel Michigan, which has spent more than $26.3 million in out-of-state tourism advertisements in the last five years.

Most out-of-state tourists to the city are coming from Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and, to a lesser extent, Ontario. The Detroit and Grand Rapids areas are where a majority of in-state tourists are coming from, she said.

The goal of the Pure Michigan advertisements in other states is not only to attract tourists, but to direct people to the michigan.org Web site. Through the visitors bureau's marketing efforts with Travel Michigan, Sault Ste. Marie is now a featured destination on the site. The city name will appear in a "featured destination box" on every page on the site between April 1 and August 1. Ms. Hoath said the Sault Ste. Marie campaign will benefit from this through other Michigan communities' campaigns in other areas of the country.

Visitors to the bureau's Web site have more than doubled since 2006, which Ms. Hoath also attributes to the radio marketing. The site received 2.8 million unique visitors in July 2008, compared to 1.2 million in July 2006. The most hits recorded in one month, she said, was 3.8 million in July 2007; July is typically the busiest month for the site.

"Oh my gosh! The hits are amazing," she said. "There's nowhere else I can track it. We don't see the [online] people; they don't come into our office. This way we know our advertisements are cost effective."

She said the site has received a very small number of hits from users as far away as Germany and China.

This year, Ms. Hoath said, the visitors bureau is going to focus on attracting more conventions to the city. Sault Ste. Marie has something to suit every group's needs, she said. Her organization is continually contacting and mailing information to associations that are looking for convention space.

Convention participants affect the local economy like tourists; they fill up hotels and spend money in local shops, which in turn fuels spending from residents who own and work in those hotels and businesses.

If the visitors bureau didn't advertise, Ms. Hoath said no new business, tourists, or conventions would ever come to the city. The bureau is "constantly trying to find new avenues" to attract more people to the Sault Ste. Marie area.

"It's hard to say where we would've have been" without advertising, she said. "During the months we were advertising, businesses were up in revenue. It's probably some of the best money we've ever spent."

Schedules and information about upcoming Sault Ste. Marie area events are available on the visitors bureau Web site, www.saultstemarie.com.