This year the challenge of attracting tourists has been a bit easier for Saugatuck’s galleries and other businesses due to some unprecedented international attention by global travel publications and news media. The popularity overflowed to nearby lakeshore cities, and merchants there couldn’t be happier.
According to excerpts from the story:
Any press is good press, and Saugatuck-Douglas business and tourism leaders say the resort area is enjoying a banner year thanks to international attention.
Even recent stories about dirty public bathrooms grabbed international attention. That story was retold in Iraq, India and Colombia, but what really gave the area a boost has been recent recognition by major outlets including The New York Times, The London Times, Conde Nast Publications, NBC, MSNBC, PBS’s “Great Lakes Ports of Call” program, The Weather Channel and Midwest Living and American Style magazines, said Felicia Fairchild, executive director for the Saugatuck-Douglas Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“The first big boost was Midwest Living Magazine ranking us as one of the top five living destinations in the Midwest, and it culminated with the article in The New York Times,” Fairchild said.
Read the complete story here.
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