According to a study from D.K. Shifflet & Associates (DKSA) - a Virginia-based tourism research company - visitors spent $17.7 billion in Michigan during 2011. This marks a $500 million increase from the previous year.

Some noteworthy points of the study included trends with out-of-state visitors, as they outspent in-state travelers for the second year in a row. All visitors spent $13.1 billion on leisure travel and $4.6 billion on business travel. These trends also reflect a related state tax revenue increase, bringing in an estimated $994.7 million.

Several of the state's destination marketing organizations are Simpleview clients and we are impressed with their unified efforts to attract travelers.