Travel Michigan, the state office that facilitates the famous Pure Michigan promotional campaign, published its latest economic impact report last week. According to the report, which was prepared for Travel Michigan by the consulting firm Tourism Economics, the statewide economic impact of Michigan’s tourism industry was a whopping $54.8 billion for the calendar year of 2024.

Specifically, Tourism Economics reports that 131.2 million visitors traveled to Michigan last year from other states or other parts of the world, up from 128.3 million in 2023 and 125 million in 2022. Those visitors spent a total of $30.7 billion while here, up 4.9 percent year-over-year from 2023’s total of $29.3 billion. The state and local tax revenue of all that spending? $3.6 billion.

The report also credits the visitor economy for supporting 351,292 jobs, including 96,000 in the food and beverage industry alone. All told, one in 17 jobs in Michigan are connected to the tourism industry, and approximately $15.5 billion in personal income was generated for Michigan workers by the tourism industry last year.

As for the Pure Michigan campaign itself, a separate report from SMARInsights recently found that the popular advertising strategy “influenced more than 789,000 leisure trips to Michigan from national, regional, and in-state markets in 2024.” Visitors drawn to Michigan by Pure Michigan ads spent some $1.3 billion during their visits to the state. Notably, visitors drawn here by the Pure Michigan campaign were more likely “to stay longer, participate in more activities, and discover more new destinations during their visits to Michigan in 2024 when compared with visitors who were not aware of the campaign.”

The full Tourism Economics report can be viewed here.