With the return of American tourists to their skies, as hotel occupancy soars, holidaymakers can look forward to a return to the U.S. heartland.
This appears to be the case, with American and Canadian tourists estimated to boost the economy of Canada’s popular Lake Michigan region by a whopping $6 billion this summer, according to a study from Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island. And according to the report, tourism visits to the Great Lakes area might even help Canada’s gross domestic product.
Why are American and Canadian tourists flocking north again? There is no single reason. However, as the lead authority for the Lake Michigan hospitality industry, Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island concludes that Americans are returning to Michigan because of the proximity to Michigan’s West Coast and East Coast and the safety of the security of the region’s ports.
While a resurgent U.S. economy and the rising Mexican peso are likely factors, the big news is the dramatic drops in gasoline prices over the past several months, which is translating into cheaper trips to the Great Lakes area by non-residents and a more affordable vacation experience for residents of Detroit and Cleveland. In some cities on the Great Lakes, like Lake Pontchartrain, the recent decline in the cost of gasoline has brought food to the tables of thousands of families. In Chicago, the cost of groceries, on average, has dropped around 10 percent from December last year to February this year.
In 2018, the income related to travel from U.S. tourists in the Great Lakes region was estimated at $2.88 billion. The expected cost of visits from Canadian tourists for 2018 was also $2.88 billion.
[Agency: The Voyageur Group]
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