Welcome, Tourists

This week has special significance every year, more in some places than others.  We all welcome summer with the longest day.  For people in tourist towns in northern Wisconsin and Michigan the schools are out in the big cities and many welcome dollars are on the way to be spent, often somewhat carelessly, by vacationers.

As a lad, the geezer worked for two summers in the meat department of a National Tea Store, the biggest food market at the time in my north woods hometown.  About 30 resorts of various sizes were in our trading area.

The store increased the staff in the middle of June to be ready for a big increase in business. The resort owners required large amounts of supplies for their kitchens, and many people owned summer homes in the area that needed provisions.  Thousands of “summer people,” most from Chicago or Milwaukee metro areas, shopped in our store.

In mid-June, the store manager appeared in our department with revised price lists.  Just about every item magically required a 10 percent increase almost on the day the first tourist appeared in town.  At the end of August the manager again handed out revised price sheets.  Would you believe the prices were lowered by about 10 per cent nearly across the board?

We took one slogan of the day seriously: “Keep Northern Wisconsin Green, Bring Money.”

My credit card company this week offered to double, from one to two percent, the usual cash-back bonus for all purchases made in London from now until August 31.  Do you suppose those UK purveyors of chintzy souvenirs are going to hold their Olympic Games price increases to two percent?

It sounds to me like a big net loss for tourists.  The card company ad features a handsome color photo of the Big Ben clock tower. We’ll stay home and be awed by the chimes via television.

Purely a Bailout

A happy group of owners and managers of resorts, hotels, sporting goods stores, and various tourist attractions has gathered this weekend to try to convince our governor to permanently cement their hands into our taxpaying pockets.

It is safe to say many of these entrepreneurs strongly opposed on ideological grounds federal taxpayer support for financial institutions that saved our, and probably the world, financial system just a couple of years ago.  Never mind that the banking loans have largely been repaid.  And don’t bother to mention that the federal government turned a profit by collecting interest on large chunks of the emergency money.  Bailouts are bad, say conservative business owners.

Apparently,  taxpayer financing is only “creeping socialism” outside “the proper role of government” when it goes to someone else.

The tourism conferees have gathered in Grand Rapids to consider “Delivering on the Pure Michigan Promise.”  Pure Michigan is a promotional campaign designed to lure vacationers to come to the state to experience Michigan’s wonders.  We do have many attractions, including great natural beauty in the coastal and northern areas. It seems only good and right that resources should be allocated to telling the Pure Michigan story. The question is: “Whose resources?”

State support for tourism is nothing new here or elsewhere.  However, with Michigan’s economy reeling from one job loss after another in 2008, Governor Jennifer Granholm took it big time.  She transferred $45 million from a job trust fund to finance the Pure Michigan ad campaign for three years.   The campaign went national. Now there’s talk about wooing international visitors.

Current Governor Rick Snyder, who is an avowed budget cutter in some areas, has proposed a $25 million budget item to continue the Pure Michigan campaign next year. The program is run by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Travel Michigan Division.  It claims to have created $2 billion in new tourism spending since 2006.

This year there’s a new wrinkle to the ad campaign.  Two cities, Mackinac Island, and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn are chipping in several million dollars in total to assure they will be featured in some Pure Michigan ads. Aha, that’s a good thing.  Some of those who stand to benefit are willing to pick up a share of the tab.

The tourist industry has conducted a spirited public relations campaign trying to demonstrate that Michigan benefits from about $3 in tax revenue for every $1 invested in the tourism campaign. Wonderful.  Of course there is no mention that the owners of  tourism-related businesses are the chief beneficiaries of the taxpayer investments.  Other statistics show the Michigan tourism sector recovering at a rapid pace from the Great Recession.

Pure Michigan is such a good deal that the industry people now are pushing for a mechanism to ensure long-term state funding.  “Anything the legislature creates, they can uncreate,” the vice president of the Michigan Travel Council is reported to have said.  He said he thought the currently proposed $25 million budget item was “adequate.”

I say if the program is so wonderful those business owners, communities, and tourist attraction operators who benefit should be willing to pay for all of it.  This could be arranged over time with some simple legislation.  How about this:

Approve the $25 million budget item for next year only.  Mandate that it then will be reduced by $1 million each year for the next 25 years.  If those who benefit  want to maintain the program indefinitely, they could make contributions to replace the million dollar annual withdrawal of taxpayer money.

The tourism industry people would continue to enjoy their bailout for a long time, but their hands gradually would be withdrawn from our pockets.

Mitten Mutterings

The Geezer’s native and adopted states survived a bit of a tiff this week when they decided to shake and make up.  It is unknown whether hands were protected by mittens during the shake.

Mitten or chopper?

The brouhaha began when Wisconsin’s travel bureau ran ads depicting the state as a mitten to promote winter vacations. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation promptly skewered its Wisconsin counterpart with some semi-harsh comments about “trying to steal our identity.” Lower Michigan long has been known as “The Mitten” for its resemblance on maps to that item of apparel.

 

There has been no known violence, but charges and counter charges flew between Badgers and Michiganders.  Wisconsin was accused of stealing this year’s Rose Bowl bid after its university football team pulled off a nail-biting win over Michigan State. Wisconsinites with what they thought were long memories said many years ago Michigan stole the whole Upper Peninsula from its natural position as part of Wisconsin. The prize was control of valuable timber supplies and mineral deposits.

The Geezer has thoroughly analyzed the data and arrived at several conclusions:

Travel Wisconsin’s mitten analogy was absurd.  Any kid who grew up in the frigid northern areas of either state knows the mitten image concocted by the Badger promoters far more resembles a “chopper.”  Choppers were made from deerskin and were worn over mittens.  They were ideal for making snowballs without getting the inner cloth hand-covering wet, thus avoiding reprimands from moms who disliked mitten-drying duties.

Wisconsin footballers indeed may have “stolen” a trip to Pasadena for the roses, but it only evened things up.  Michigan State stole the first game between the teams with an improbable desperation pass in the final seconds.  Even Steven, I say.

Michigan hardly can be accused of stealing the Upper Peninsula.  It became a state first, and thus in true American tradition was entitled to grab any land it could get its mitts on (pun intended).  The peninsula was an economic prize, but social integration has been a problem. The Geezer believes most Yuppers are closet Packers fans to this day.

All is well now.  The rival travel agencies joined forces to urge residents of both states to stop the squabbling and donate mittens to warm the hands of kids who need them.  No mention was made of choppers, although they probably would be accepted. Reports from involved charities say the joint campaign is a big success.

However, trying to show the Upper Peninsula as a little mitten in the campaign’s publicity does not work well.  That part of the logo looks more like a sick fish with a large dorsal fin.  Are we headed for a new controversy involving ice fishing?