Tourism in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan is a significant factor for the region's culture and for its economy, comprising nine percent of the area's two million jobs.[1] About 19 million people visit Metro Detroit spending an estimated 6 billion in 2019.[2] In 2009, this number was about 15.9 million people, spending an estimated $4.8 billion.[3][4][5] Detroit is one of the largest American cities and metropolitan regions to offer casino resort hotels.[6] Leading multi-day events throughout Metro Detroit draw crowds of hundreds of thousands to over three million people.[7][8] More than fifteen million people cross the highly traveled nexus of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel annually.[9] Detroit is at the center of an emerging Great Lakes Megalopolis. An estimated 46 million people live within a 300-mile (480 km) radius of Metro Detroit.[10][11]
Visit Detroit is the region's official destination marketing organization, promoting the Detroit metro region (Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb counties) regionally, nationally and internationally as a convention, business meeting, and tourism destination.[15] The organization, originally called the Detroit Convention and Businessman's League and later changed to the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, was founded on February 19, 1896 by Milton J. Carmichael and is the world's first convention and visitors bureau. [16][17]
Market overview
The metropolitan region's tourism industry depends on drawing large crowds with quality attractions and entertainment in order to positively impact the local economy.[18] As the world's traditional automotive center,[19][20] the city hosts the annual North American International Auto Show in January, a multi-day event. Other major multi-day events that reflect the region's culture such as the Motown Winter Blast and the Windsor–Detroit International Freedom Festival, typically held the last week of June, can draw super sized-crowds of hundreds of thousands to over three million people.[7][8] A 2007 poll, conducted by Selzer and Co., reported that about two-thirds of the millions of residents in the suburban area occasionally dine and attend cultural events or take in professional games in the city of Detroit.[7] In 2006, the four-day Motown Winter Blast drew a cold weather crowd of about 1.2 million people to Campus Martius Park area downtown.[8] Metro Detroit is one of thirteen U.S. cities with teams from four major sports.
Besides its casino resort hotels, the region's leading attraction is The Henry Ford, America's largest indoor-outdoor museum complex,[21][22] a National Historic Landmark museum entertainment complex with an IMAX theater next to the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn. The Detroit Institute of Arts in the cultural center downtown is another leading attraction and national historic site.[23] The Detroit Festival of the Arts in Midtown draws about 350,000 people.[24] The Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak has an Arctic Ring of Wildlife exhibit with an underwater viewing tunnel that includes the largest polar bear exhibit in the U.S.[6] Together, The Henry Ford, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Zoo attract about 2,500,000 visitors annually.[25] Detroit is also home to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. Built in 1904 and now running as a museum, it is the oldest car factory building in the world open to the public and was the birthplace of the Ford Model T.
The Passenger Terminal and Dock of Detroit on Hart Plaza near the Renaissance Center receives cruise ships and tall ships. Cruise liners include vessels marketed by the Great Lakes Cruising Company: Yorktown, Grand Mariner, and Grand Caribe and has included Hapag-Lloyd's MS Hamburg operated by Plantours (formerly MS Columbus).[32][33] The Great Lakes Cruising Coalition has attempted with limited success to support passenger ship cruises through a joint U.S-Canadian venture to Great Lakes ports and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Passenger cruise liners depart from and journey to ports throughout the Great Lakes including Chicago, Detroit, Mackinac Island, Toronto, and Montreal.[34]William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor in downtown Detroit offers public docks for boaters.
The city's hospitality industry, with thousands of hotel rooms, routinely hosts major conventions and sporting events.[18][35] The Marriott corporation and Starwood Hotels (Westin and Sheraton) have a significant presence in the region. In addition to its casino resort hotels, the area has many full-service hotels and resorts, including the historic flagship Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit's Washington Boulevard Historic District, restored in 2008, the historic Doubletree Guest Suites Fort Shelby Hotel downtown Detroit, restored in 2009, and the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center on the waterfront which is one of the largest hotel conference facilities in the U.S. The centrally located Westin Southfield Detroit Hotel contains one of the region's major conference centers and Westin operates a hotel and conference center inside the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Downtown Detroit has about 5,000 hotel rooms, with 4,000 in walking distance of the convention and exhibit facility TCF Center.[35] The suburb of Novi has about 5,300 hotels rooms within a 10-mile (16 km) radius and the suburb of Pontiac has about 5,800 within a 10-mile (16 km) radius.[35]
In 2003, General Motors completed a $500 million redevelopment of the Renaissance Center as its world headquarters.[38][39] The east riverfront promenade development was planned at and additional $559 million, including $135 million from GM and $50 million from the Kresge Foundation.[40] The International Riverfront is linked by the River Walk, a promenade along connecting the cruise ship dock on Hart Plaza to a series of parks, restaurants, retail shops, and other venues from the Marriott at the Renaissance Center to the Roberts Riverwalk Hotel on the historic Stroh's riverplace site. Compuware CEO Peter Karmanos played a role in the financing to reconstruct the city's historic restoration of Campus Martius Park which now hosts events such as the Motown Winter Blast in January attracting large crowds.[8]
A nearly $300 million renovation and expansion project of Cobo Center convention and exhibit facility began July 2011 and is expected to be ready for the 2014 North American International Auto Show in January, with the remainder of the project scheduled to be completed by December 2014. The project will add meeting and exhibit space and glass walls to the exterior in order to provide views of the International Riverfront.[41][42][43][44]
The city's mayor in the 1990s, Dennis Archer, also a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, supported a plan which resulted in new casino resort hotels as a catalyst for development. Initially, Archer's plan was for a casino cluster along the east riverfront.[48] In April 2005, after an eight-year legal battle over the bidding process, the courts cleared the way for the City of Detroit to permit its temporary casinos to build all new casino resort hotels, to open in late 2007.[49] The settlement was further complicated by MGM's acquisition of Mandalay Bay, then owner of the Motor City Casino. Upon acceptance of the settlement, Detroit entrepreneur Marion Ilitch exercised her option to purchase Motor City Casino, outbidding other partners.[50] The plan for the casino resort locations changed as the city decided instead to have a promenade of parks along the International Riverfront to spur residential development, thus freeing the casino companies to build in other areas of downtown. Upon completion, Detroit became the largest American city and metropolitan region to offer casino resort hotels.[6] Since 2000, the city has seen a general trend of increased tax revenues from the three casinos; in 2009, casino resort hotels in Detroit employed 8,122 people, paid $452.8 M in wages (not including tips and benefits), and contributed $320 M in taxes to the city and state.[51][52]
In decade leading up to 2006, downtown Detroit gained more than $15 billion in new investment from private and public sectors.[53] In 2007, complementing the MGM Grand Detroit, DTE Energy announced a $50 million transformation of the area around its downtown headquarters into an urban oasis with parks, walkways, and a reflecting pool.[54] Completion of the MGM Grand Detroit resort hotel in 2007 has opened new prospects for future development downtown with the west riverfront area and the area from MGM Grand Detroit to the Michigan Central Station. The question of how to finance a new convention facility to accommodate the expanding needs of the North American International Auto Show generated media attention and speculation with Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson's proposal for a fourth casino resort hotel in Detroit to anchor the convention center following the example of the Las Vegas Sands Expo convention center which would need approval from a statewide referendum.[55] Governor Jennifer Granholm ultimately signed legislation on July 2, 2009 that created a five-member board, appointed by the governor, the City of Detroit, and Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties to oversee the operation of the Cobo Center with the city retaining ownership in order to facilitate a major renovation.[56] The nearly $300 million renovation of Cobo Center convention and exhibit facility includes the addition of glass walls to connect the complex with the waterfront.[57]
Detroit's Belle Isle Park has "spectacular views" of the area.[58] Some tourists are attracted to nearby Windsor, Ontario by Ontario's lower (19-and-older) drinking age.[59]
A strategy entitled Pure Michigan resulted in the State's tourism website ranking as the busiest in the nation.[60] Metro Detroit urban destinations such as The Henry Ford, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Detroit Zoo were also emphasized in the strategy.[61] This led to support for proposals for increased funding in 2008 for the Travel Michigan budget from Detroit area legislators.[62]
The Detroit Institute of Arts is among the largest art museums in the United States and contains over 100 galleries. The museum houses the 1150-seat Detroit Film Theatre, also used to showcase famous collections. Officials at the DIA have ranked the American paintings collection third among museums in the United States. Works by American artists began to be collected immediately following the museum's founding in 1883.
The collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts include ancient Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian material, as well as a wide range of Islamic, African and Asian art of all media. Other notable art museums in the metropolitan area include University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor and the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills.
Entertainment
Theatre in Detroit is part of the Broadway theatre circuit. The Windsor-Detroit casino resorts have nightclubs, restaurants, and large performance centers for shows. Star performances in the city's theatre venue circuit complement major events such as North American International Auto Show. There are a number of popular nightclubs including the Necto in Ann Arbor, the three-level St. Andrews Hall in Detroit, and the nightclubs at the city's casino resort hotels.
The area has hosted several major sporting events in order to attract large crowds such as Super Bowl XL; in fact, Detroit is the only northern city to have hosted two Super Bowls. Ford Field hosted the 2009 NCAA Final Four, where North Carolina defeated Michigan State; in April 2007 it hosted WrestleMania 23. Major League Baseball's 2005 All-Star Game was held at Comerica Park, as were World Series games in 2006 and 2012 due to the Detroit Tigers's run of success in the late 2000s (decade) through the early 2010s. The 2005 All Star Game injected $52 million into the area economy, while Super Bowl XL injected $270 million.[71] In 2008, the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park reported 3.2 million visitors with a 98.6 percent attendance rate.[72] Comerica Park and Ford Field stadiums are located near the Grand Circus Park Historic District.
The area has a 24,000-acre (97 km2) network of "metroparks" which receives about 9 million visitors annually[73] Outdoor activities in the metro region include downhill and cross-county skiing at Alpine Valley Ski Resort, Mt. Brighton, Mt Holly, and Pine Knob Ski Resort, Huron River kayaking and canoeing available through the Huron-Clinton Metroparks, and fresh water beaches such as Metro Beach, Kensington Beach, and Stony Creek Beach. Golf is an important sporting activity in the metropolitan area with a variety of courses, country clubs, and resorts. The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge is the only international wildlife preserve in North America, uniquely located in the heart of a major metropolitan area. The refuge includes islands, coastal wetlands, marshes, shoals, and waterfront lands along 48 miles (77 km) of the Detroit River and Western Lake Erie shoreline.
^Metro Detroit’s Hospitality Industry Employment Hits Record Highs Before COVID-19 - July 7, 2020. Retrieved on July 22, 2023. Archived June 5, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
^ abcdMink, Randy, and Karen Mink (July 2001). Detroit Turns 300 - Detroit 300 Festival. Travel America, World Publishing Co., Gale Group.
^ abcBailey, Ruby L (August 22, 2007). The D is a draw: Most suburbanites are repeat visitors.Detroit Free Press. New Detroit Free Press-Local 4 poll conducted by Selzer and Co., finds, "nearly two-thirds of residents of suburban Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties say they at least occasionally dine, attend cultural events or take in professional games in Detroit."
^ abcdFifth Third Bank rocks the Winter Blast.Michigan Chronicle. (March 14, 2006).
^ abAudi, Tamara (September 26, 2007). What Happens In Detroit. The Wall Street Journal, B6. "But the market at issue, as MGM Mirage sees it, includes a 300-mile radius of potential overnight clients across the region,"
^The New York Times (January 4, 2017). 52 Places to Go in 2017 NYT Travel, The New York Times. Retrieved on February 7, 2018.
^Lonely Planet. [1] Lonely Planet, Lonely Planet. Retrieved on February 7, 2018.
^"Michigan Cities". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Archived from the original on September 19, 2010. Retrieved May 1, 2009. [Detroit] is the automobile capital of the world
^Corley, Irvin (April 30, 2003).2003-04 Budget AnalysisArchived 2007-12-02 at the Wayback MachineCity of Detroit Memorandum to Graham Beal, Director, Arts Department. Retrieved on November 10, 2007. "The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is the second largest municipally-owned museum in the United States and contains an encyclopedic art collection worth over one billion dollars."
^The Urban Markets Initiative, Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program The Social Compact, Inc. University of Michigan Graduate Real Estate Program (October 2006).Downtown Detroit In Focus: A Profile of Market OpportunityArchived September 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Downtown Detroit Partnership. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
^Arts & CultureArchived 2013-10-09 at the Wayback MachineDetroit Economic Growth Corporation. Retrieved on July 24, 2008. "Detroit is home to the second largest theatre district in the United States."
Wilson, Matilda Rausch Dodge, Debbie Patrick, ed., (1998). A Place in the Country: Matilda Wilson's Personal Guidebook to Meadow Brook Hall, Rochester, MI: Oakland University Press.
Lake St. Clair Guide - Guides and Resources for Lake St. Clair and surrounding waterways
The New York Times listed Detroit on its list 53 places to visit in 2008. "The 53 Places to Go in 2008" cited the new Casino resorts and the Detroit Institute of Arts as tourist attractions.