When you think about tourism in the U.P., a lot of people probably think it's a more recent industry, rising up to fill some of the gaps that the mining and lumbering industries left in the regional economy after their hey-days had passed.
But in fact, tourism has been a basic part of the U.P.'s attractiveness and economy for at least 100 years, and that's borne out by the recent celebration the
Upper Peninsula Travel and Recreation Association has marked: its 100th anniversary.
The association is a collective of tourism and recreation-related businesses and organization, and it's one of the oldest such groups in the U.S.
"UPTRA has been a major economic stimulus for the Upper Peninsula," says Tom Nemacheck, executive director of UPTRA, which is based in Iron Mountain, adding that its contributions and experience have helped tourism become the No. 2 industry in the state currently.
Interestingly, the association formed in response to some concerns familiar to today's Michigan residents: economic diversity and attracting new people to the area.
Iron and copper mining along with lumbering were the main industries in the U.P. 100 years ago, and the then-editor of the Menominee Herald Leader, Roger Andrews, felt the regional economy needed to expand past those businesses. He called for the formation of a regional development and promotion organization, and in 1911, business representatives from across the U.P. formed the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau.
The bureau promoted the U.P. as "Cloverland" to attract farmers, new families and tourists alike, and worked to encourage diverse businesses and land uses. With the rise of the Detroit automobile, the U.P. caught on as a vacation destination for Midwesterners over the next few decades, and soon the marketers at the bureau started calling it "Hiawatha Land" instead, after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his famous poem about the region. That name still sticks here and there, and carried the U.P. through an era of vacation travel heralded by the opening of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957.
Now, Nemacheck says another sea change is underway in tourism promotion; rather than the printed travel guides used in years past, the UPTRA finds that people from around the world are finding the U.P. online and using the association's website as a trip planning resource.
Writer: Sam EgglestonSource: Tom Nemacheck, Upper Peninsula Travel and Recreation Association
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