From around the world, potential visitors can now experience what it’s like to climb Sleeping Bear Dunes, take in the view from Pierce Stocking overlook and Empire Bluff, and go on the Pyramid Point Trail.

Then -- the state hopes -- they will plan a trip.

The locations are among select destinations throughout Michigan now made accessible through Google Maps’ Street View via a partnership between the state and Google. The partnership – early details of which were reported by Traverse City Business News in February -- was unveiled Monday at the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Grand Rapids. It is “a home run for Michigan tourism,” Travel Michigan Vice President David West tells The Ticker.

“You can go in and see what the Pictured Rocks look like, and have a 360-degree view of it. Or Sleeping Bear Dunes,” West says. “This will be a phenomenal driver for Michigan tourism.”

Members of the state’s Pure Michigan team, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and volunteers captured the images last fall using Google’s Trekker portable camera system. Through thousands of footsteps and miles of kayak paddle-strokes, they collected more than 44,000 photos that were stitched together to create the panoramas, which can be seen here.

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, VISIT FLORIDA and California State Parks are among those who have partnered with Google through its Trekker loan program; officials say Pure Michigan is the first statewide Trekker loan partnership in the Midwest. There was no cost to the state other than staff time, West adds.

The attention-catching technology wasn’t the only announcement at the tourism conference. Other news includes:

A record year for visitor spending.
Some 113.4 million visitors spent $22.8 billion in Michigan in 2014, up 3.8 percent from 2013, according to data from tourism analyses and consulting firm Tourism Economics.

Domestic travelers represented $21.3 billion, or 93 percent of total traveler spending, while overseas travelers spent $1.5 billion. Leisure travel was 72.6 percent of all spending, while business travel was 27.4 percent.

In 2014, tourism spending directly supported 214,333 Michigan jobs, Tourism Economics reports.

And, the $12.4 million that Michigan spent in 2014 on Pure Michigan campaign out-of-state advertising had impact: According to another report, from Longwoods International research firm, the campaign influenced more than 4.1 million trips to Michigan last year by out-of-state visitors.

The campaign also generated $85.4 million in tax revenue, bringing a return on investment of $6.87 for every $1 that the state spent.

Projections of another strong year for Michigan’s tourism industry.
Michigan State University researchers expect the number of people traveling to and around the state to increase 1.5 percent this year. Tourism spending, as measured by hotel and motel tax receipts, is expected to climb an estimated 2.5 percent.

MSU Associate Professor of Tourism Sarah Nicholls and Dan McCole, assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Community Sustainability, presented their annual outlook Monday at the tourism conference. High consumer confidence, continued improvements in housing markets and reduced unemployment are among positive factors, McCole says.

Even with last year’s cool, wet weather, hotel occupancy statewide rose more than 2 percent in and car traffic was up about 1 percent, according to MSU data.