Policy Context
Policy Themes and Potential Actions
The Integrated Assessment helped identify five policy themes for northeast Michigan, which stakeholders prioritized as follows:
- Preserving Sense of Place and Community Character
- Natural, Cultural, and Maritime Heritage Resources Tourism
- Growing an Entrepreneurial Community and Attracting Business Interests
- Incorporation of Modern Technologies
- Government Coordination and Communication
Workshop participants identified the following six potential actions as most important and feasible for implementing their goals:
- Increase public awareness of regional resources through education and outreach campaigns.
- Balance the tourism portfolio by maintaining traditional tourism opportunities and connecting natural resources. cultural resources and maritime heritage.
- Market Northeast Michigan as a maritime heritage and nature based tourism destination.
- Capitalize on the presence of the Marine Sanctuary to build complimentary enterprises.
- Utilize the Marine Sanctuary as a gateway visitor center for regional opportunities.
- Increase visibility of the area’s resources to nonresidents by marketing regional tourism opportunities via the web, providing itineraries for various types of tourism (e.g., drive-thru, vacation destination, second or retirement home).
See: Chapter Seven, Meeting 6 Notes
Strategies for Implementation
Guiding Concept: Geotourism
The prioritization exercise showed that the primary concern of local stakeholders is to have successful coastal tourism, while protecting sense of place and community character. The concept of geotourism and the way in which it has been developed and applied, addresses much of this concern. A tourism strategy based on the concepts of geotourism would begin with the following actions, including the involvement of community members that is critical throughout the process.
- Identify the region’s cultural and natural resources and assets
- Protect the resources
- Identify the stories that tie the resources together
- Market the region as a tourist destination through these stories
- Enhance the tourist experience (from, Clark & Gray, 2006)
As a result of the Northeast Michigan Integrated Assessment project, Michigan Sea Grant is currently developing a website to support coastal tourism and area businesses. See: Discover Northeast Michigan
Case Studies
Developing coastal access that balances resource protection, the community’s quality of life, and generates economic development benefits must be thoughtfully incorporated into broader regional planning.
Links Offsite
Examples of Geotoursim
To help Northeast Michigan envision this, Michigan Sea Grant identified four case study communities that have created initiatives that successfully balance a sense of place and sustainable tourism. Chapter seven explores four case study communities including:
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