Starting a Wayne County Tourism Bureau

Hello,

After volunteering at Inside Detroit/D:Hive last year, and recognizing all that Wayne County has to offer to visitors, I began brainstorming on starting a Wayne County Tourism Bureau. The DMCVB [[Visit Detroit) does a great job with regional attraction as D:HIVE is more City based, yet for attractions like the Henry Ford Estate, the Henry Ford/Greenfield Village collection, Wayne County Parks, our historic sites, and Fort Wayne, don't have a one-stop shop base for visitors and business visitors in the county. The bureau could also highlight the great historic downtown's Wayne County boasts.

I am attempting to work with an excellent Wayne County commissioner I met, to establish this. Yet, with W.C's limited resources, do you think it may be better to approach Dan Gilbert/BedRock about this idea. Any, and all criticism or comments are welcome!

How do you propose to fund this bureau? I am serious. DMCVB get a 'head tax' for each room that is sold in properties over a certain size. If you approach hotels or attractions I am willing to bet that they are already in the DMCVB and won't see much value in this organization.

What would you do for these folks that VisitDetroit.com is not already doing? It is already seen as a one stop base for visitors. I am not getting why a duplication is needed. You would need to sell this to those who will fund it. A county commissioner does not have the authority or the resources to work on behalf of the private sector, support should come from the members of the private sector who will directly benefit from tourism, and they already get that.

Livonia: Jewel of the Jeffries

Look out, Italy!

DP makes some good points. Perhaps there's a reason why these places aren't highlighted. Such as them not having the money to advertise or the willingness to spend to be part of Visit Detroit. In the case of The Henry Ford, I'm sure they are comfortable with their exposure and marketing efforts considering they are one of the top tourist attractions in the entire state.

I have no expertise in the local travel industry, so I don't know. If it's a matter of finances, perhaps organizing a collaboration that can then advertise together [[i.e. Wayne County Historic Downtowns). I really don't know. But to me, the first step seems to be to find out why these places aren't part of Visit Detroit...then formulating a plan to get them recognized and/or organized.

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Originally Posted by Bham1982

Livonia: Jewel of the Jeffries

Look out, Italy!

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See Wayne County's 300 million dollar jail ruins!

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Originally Posted by Zug

In the case of The Henry Ford, I'm sure they are comfortable with their exposure and marketing efforts considering they are one of the top tourist attractions in the entire state.

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In the case of the Henry Ford, Visit Detroit does go above and beyond to promote it:

http://visitdetroit.com/lee
http://visitdetroit.com/detroit-memb...memberid=12712

It is a member of the CVB

The DMCVB is 114 years old, has an annual budget of more than $12 million. Of course, you don't see much of it's work - because the marketing is done in other places, the better to attract real visitors and conventions.

Wayne County government very supportive DMCVB.

The only problem I have with the idea of Detroit/Wayne County as a tourist destination is that no matter how you promote it, Detroit will never be a tourist destination. It would be like selling Kansas City.....or Cleveland, no matter what the high points are, and all three have some remarkable high points. Detroit isn't San Francisco or Chicago or New York City and never will be.

So what to do? Push the convention business, and push it hard. The advantage of conventions are two fold. First, they bring people [[and their dollars) into town. Second, they bring people into town. Now, that's not really as dumb a statement as it sounds. With Detroit's image destruction over the past 40 years or so, you'll never draw visitors to the area individually, but with conventions you have a captive audience that's already here. Sell them hard, and maybe you have a chance of getting them to come back.

DMCVB always struck me as mildly retarded:

The metro Detroit area has five distinct destination districts, perfect for tourism and travel — everything from a lively urban vibe to wide-open scenic spaces

DW

DEARBORN/WAYNE

DD

DOWNTOWN DETROIT

GN

GREATER NOVI

M

MACOMB

O

OAKLAND



Looks like i've been missing out on what a distinct destination Greater Novi is after all these years. What a load of horseshit. I guess their idea is to trick people into coming here.

I thought it was odd the The Henry Ford wasn't part of the visitor's bureau. But I haven't paid attention to their stuff in years, so I took the OP at face value.

And poobert, that is quite funny that "Greater Novi" deserves such a prominent place. Looking at the map of it from the link, it just looks like Novi, Farmington & Farmington Hills. I don't see why that can't just be clumped with the rest of Oakland county.

Thinking about it...maybe the fact that Novi has a convention center is why the convention & visitors bureau feels it deserves highlighting?

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Originally Posted by douglasm

So what to do? Push the convention business, and push it hard.

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I agree, but the problem is that this will be extremely difficult, to put it mildly.

First, the convention business is shrinking. So you're fighting over a withering business.

Second, and more important, Vegas and Orlando absolutely dominate the U.S. convention business. They're low-cost, generally anti-union locales [[Vegas is union, but not the same rules), and very desirable locations, year-round. They also have gigantic convention centers, vastly larger than in any other city, and have almost limitless space for expansion.

Imagine trying to pitch the, let's say, "American Association of Podiatrists" annual meeting. It's every March, let's say, and you're competing against Orlando and Vegas [[and maybe throw in very popular New Orleans).

Why the hell would they go with Detroit? Conventions are an excuse to get drunk and stupid, or, alternately often used as a couples or family getaway and cold, unwelcoming Detroit isn't going to cut it. You're competing against Disney, Bourbon Street and the Strip, with higher costs and crap weather.

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Originally Posted by Bham1982

Why the hell would they go with Detroit? Conventions are an excuse to get drunk and stupid, or, alternately often used as a couples or family getaway and cold, unwelcoming Detroit isn't going to cut it. You're competing against Disney, Bourbon Street and the Strip, with higher costs and crap weather.

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Didn't know the weather was all that great in Minneapolis, Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philly, NYC or Boston??

Apparently you forgot MENSA had their convention here a few years ago... even genius's know it's OK to come to Detroit... :p

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Originally Posted by Gistok

Didn't know the weather was all that great in Minneapolis, Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philly, NYC or Boston??

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Yeah, and these cities can't compete with Vegas and Orlando either.

Fact is that Vegas and Orlando are #1 and #2, every year, and it isn't close. Everyone else is fighting for scraps.

Also, some of the cities you listed don't even have major convention facilities. Cleveland doesn't even have a convention center.

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Originally Posted by Bham1982

Cleveland doesn't even have a convention center.

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Seriously? http://clevcc.com/

Detroit must first learn how to centralize its attractions. No one that isn't from Michigan wants to drive long distances any and everywhere through bland suburban sprawl or urban decay to get to their destinations.

That's part of the reason why even cities such as Cleveland attract more tourism than Detroit. For all of it's problems, Cleveland is still quite centralized.

This will never happen though, at least not to the extent that it will generate a net benefit Detroit and the region.

Chicago is in Cvent's top 10 list, and New York City is #11, Indianapolis is #27, Kansas City 41st, and Columbus is #48. Don't tell me conventions go to Columbus for cheap hotel rooms. The fact that they're not Vegas doesn't seem to preclude these cities being on a "Top 50 convention cities" list.

http://www.cvent.com/en/sem/top-50-m...-us-2012.shtml


And why rely on "big" conventions. I would assume that any convention that drew more than 300 people would be more than welcome at Cobo. Regional conventions are BIG business, and the VCB in the area I live actively goes after any gathering of more than 50.

Bham 82 is correct that conventions sometimes become family vacations. As a kid [[way too long ago) I remember a number of vacations that were tied around SAE conventions, and through side trips tied in with WesterCon [[a regional science fiction convention that draws about 3500) I saw enough of Vancouver BC that I most assuredly wanted to go back.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

Detroit must first learn how to centralize its attractions. No one that isn't from Michigan wants to drive long distances any and everywhere through bland suburban sprawl or urban decay to get to their destinations.

That's part of the reason why even cities such as Cleveland attract more tourism than Detroit. For all of it's problems, Cleveland is still quite centralized.

This will never happen though, at least not to the extent that it will generate a net benefit Detroit and the region.

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Exactly. And quite the opposite of correcting our mistakes or linking them in any kind of meaningful way [[such as, say, transit), we're marketing them instead. Why, just ask the convention bureau what a joy it is to drive from the Macomb "district" to the "Greater Novi" district. The sights in between are just breathtaking. It's like the fucking arrondissements.

All very good things to consider, thank you for the honesty. I may simply attempt to show my ideas to VisitDetroit and see if that gains traction at all. I did have a fair amount of reasons the WC Tourism Bureau would be a benefit and not an overlap of resources, but it may be better to team up instead.