The 2015 Governor’s Awards for Innovative Tourism Collaboration were presented on Monday, March 23 at the 2015 Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Grand Rapids. The awards were presented by the Tourism Industry Coalition of Michigan on behalf of the Michigan Travel Commission.
The Governor’s Awards for Innovative Tourism Collaboration were created by the Michigan Travel Commission, in conjunction with the Governor’s Office, to elevate the status of Michigan’s tourism industry and to promote innovative collaboration as an effective, efficient and creative operating principle for the industry. The inaugural awards were presented at the 2009 annual Tourism Conference.
In the Experience Development & Presentation category, the “Brighton’s Farm to Table Experience” was given the award. The Greater Brighton Chamber partnered locally to create an annual Pure Michigan-style “farm to table” alfresco dining event to attract the culinary tourism market to the region. The concept showcased locally sourced ingredients from local growers and from the Brighton Farmers Market. The experience allowed guests, who came from across the State of Michigan, to meet the local food growers and producers, while raising funds for the Livingston County Hunger Council and the Brighton Farmer’s Market. Brighton’s Farm to Table Experience created a way to bring additional awareness to agriculture both locally and in the State of Michigan, while educating the public on the tremendous amount of tourism that is created through culinary assets as well as farmer’s markets.
GrandRapidsStore.com won in the category of Tourism Marketing & Promotion. Passion is evident in Grand Rapids as craft beer lovers unite, art transforms the city during ArtPrize and laughter is part of the fabric of the community during LaughFest. The various events, festivals and brands in Grand Rapids have a lot of interest and support, but did not have a permanent, long-term retail location for fans to purchase items to display their enthusiasm or to use as gifts. So, Experience Grand Rapids, ArtPrize, the GR& (Grand) Brand and LaughFest partnered together to create a merchandise management system through Markit Merchandise and a joint website, which was designed by Mindutopia. Now, through the creation of grandrapidsstore.com, visitors can purchase branded merchandise for ArtPrize, Beer City USA, GR& and Laughfest all at one website. The collaboration eliminates multiple efforts while enhancing exposure for each brand year round. Since May of 2014, the online store has sold thousands of dollars in merchandise, which has been sent to customers from 20 different states and around the world.
The third and final award went to the Northwest Michigan Wine Tasting Room Training Program in the category of Education & Training. This collaboration is a two year effort between the wineries of Traverse City, Old Mission Peninsula and the Leelanau Peninsula. Ten different wineries, headed by a five person steering committee, collaborated throughout 2013 – 2014 to create a credentialed program for wine tasting rooms that features education, training and competency in the areas of customer service, wine fluency and alcohol management. This program developed the curriculum and instructional materials and then trained 16 individuals with skills that they did not possess prior to this program. Created by the wine industry for the wine industry, this program is the first of its kind. Staff in the winery tasting rooms will now have skills and tips to further enhance the experience for the customers and to boost credibility of the Michigan wine industry. The next objective is a statewide roll-out of the training program.
The Tourism Industry Coalition of Michigan is comprised of more than 47 statewide tourism associations, corporations and convention and visitor bureaus whose mission is to promote Michigan’s travel and tourism industry as a vital component of economic development and quality of life through governmental advocacy, public relations, and other promotional and educational efforts.
