LANSING – For the third consecutive year
michigan.org, the state of Michigan’s official travel and tourism Web site,
has earned the title as most popular state tourism Web site in America.
According to Hitwise, an online measurement company, michigan.org received
more visits than any other state tourism Web site in 2009.
“Our Pure Michigan marketing effort is driving a record number of
potential visitors to michigan.org,” said George Zimmermann, Vice President
of Travel Michigan, a business unit of the Michigan Economic Development
Corporation. “Consumers are responding to this award-winning campaign by
seeking Michigan tourism information at michigan.org.”
Web surfers turned to the site 12,653,772 times during 2009, an
increase of 7.9 percent over 2008. Consumers used the site an average of
34,668 times a day in 2007. Click-throughs from the site to Michigan
tourism industry Web sites also set a new record, averaging 16,748 per day,
a total of 6,112,994 during the year.
In addition, for the third consecutive time Michigan tops the ranks
amongst the 50 official U.S. tourism office Web sites in the use of social
media. In a recent study, “How Social is Your State DMO”, conducted by
Gammet Interactive, Michigan stays in the top spot for the use of popular
social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and
others.
“We view this as a clear and important signal that people are looking
to Michigan for their leisure travel,” commented Zimmermann. “We know from
independent research that 65 percent of consumers who use michigan.org for
tourism information, then travel to and within Michigan. More web traffic
means more business at Michigan destinations.”
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.
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