Shaffer works to encourage tourism
Published 5:04 am Wednesday, March 19, 2008
By Staff
LANSING – Local tourism officials traveled to Lansing on Tuesday to testify in support of legislation to increase funding for tourism promotion.
River Country Tourism President Dick Buerkle and River Country Tourism Marketing Manager Rose Szwed testified before the House Tourism, Outdoor Recreation and Natural Resources Committee.
They spoke in support of legislation which would refinance bonds at a lower tax-exempt interest rate to generate a projected $50 million in funding.
"Tourism is a renewable source of income, and has relatively few needs that must be met by the state purse," said state Rep. Rick Shaffer, R-Three Rivers, who represents eastern Cass County.
In testimony before the committee, Buerkle cited Michigan's dead-last ranking in hotel occupancy for the second year in a row, with a rising number of small hotel businesses now facing bankruptcy.
Buerkle noted that for every $1 spent in a hotel or bed and breakfast, approximately $3 is generated back into the local community.
Szwed highlighted the many tourist attractions in the River Country area, its proximity to the Shipshewana, Ind., tourism center, and major highways that crossed or bordered the area.
Szwed said a major drawback for River Country was the lack of signage on these highways, but that for individual business owners costs were too great and that investment in promotional advertising should be a fairness issue and include all areas of the state.
"Our rural area has suffered tremendously from the economic downturn in Michigan, and yet it is one of the hidden treasures in terms of tourism attractions right at the gateway to our great state," Shaffer said.
The Three Rivers Republican has worked consistently with River Country Tourism since first entering the Legislature in 2003 and said he was pleased that the focus now seems to have shifted in assisting one of the state's largest revenue earners.