michigan.org Establishes New Record

michigan.org Establishes New Record

July Web Site Traffic Biggest Month in State’s History

LANSING, Mich., Aug. 3 - With 1,894,520 user sessions in July 2009, Michigan’s official tourism Web site, michigan.org, outpaced the monthly record set in July of 2008 of 1,726,093 by 9.8 percent.

“July was a terrific month for us,” said George Zimmermann, Vice President of Travel Michigan, a business unit of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.  “A combination of our first-ever national advertising campaign, regional advertising, public relations and social media initiatives, plus our Pure Michigan Bayview Mackinac Race sponsorship, catapulted our user session numbers to our largest-ever monthly volume on michigan.org.”  Michigan’s tourism Web site routinely is the most popular state tourism Web site in the U.S.  In fact, according to Hitwise, an online measurement firm, michigan.org received more web traffic than any other state tourism Web site in both 2007 and 2008.

In addition to a record monthly michigan.org volume in July, michigan.org also delivered a record number of “click throughs” to Michigan tourism businesses in that same month.  Users of michigan.org clicked to Michigan tourism business Web sites 1,158,829 times in July, breaking the previous record of 1,011,001 click throughs in a single month.

While research results of the 2009 Pure Michigan advertising campaign will not be available until later in the year, a tourism survey released recently by the Michigan Lodging & Tourism Association reported that 59 percent of tourism businesses which track the point of origin of visitors reported an increase in out-of-state guests this year compared to the same period last year.  More than 90 percent of this year’s Pure Michigan advertising was out of state.

The official Michigan travel information site, michigan.org, features more than 12,000 attractions, events, hotels, resorts, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses. The site highlights special travel deals for golf and other warm weather activities for all ages and interests. In 2007 and 2008, michigan.org was recognized as the most popular state tourism Web site in America. This year Pure Michigan was named among the 10 all-time best tourism campaigns by Forbes.

The 2009 Michigan Travel Ideas magazine is available free of charge; go to michigan.org, or call toll-free (888) 784-7328. Michigan Travel Ideas is also available at the Michigan Welcome Centers across the state.

Travel Michigan, a division of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, is the State of Michigan’s official agency for the promotion of tourism. Travel Michigan markets the state’s tourism industry and provides valuable visitor information services.

Contact: Kirsten Borgstrom, 517-335-1871

Jenny Schilp, 248-225-6744

Source: Travel Michigan
 

CONTACT:  Kirsten Borgstrom, +1-517-335-1871, or Jenny Schilp,
+1-248-225-6744, both for Travel Michigan

Web Site:  http://www.michigan.org/