tourism

This week: One year since the Gaylord tornado, school safety in Traverse City, and a pedaling the rails in Grawn.

Allison and Alan Sehoyan have called Mackinac Island home for about 18 years. They live there year-round, and see a side of the island not readily apparent to most visitors.

Tourism is slowly recovering in northern Michigan three years after COVID-19 rocked the industry. Hotel occupancy in the region is almost back to pre-pandemic levels.

Speakers included figureheads in education, environment, state and local governments, and tourism.

Some in the local tourism industry are tossing around the idea that short-term rentals, such as those booked through Airbnb, collect room fees and use the money to pay for affordable housing.

Engineers came from all over the country to help build Boyne Mountain Resort’s newest attraction, but most of the materials came from right across the street.

$2 million will boost tourism by enhancing the Sault Ste. Marie International 500 Raceway. $850,000 will go to Manistee's downtown riverwalk.

During the high-spread times of the COVID-19 pandemic, patrons reacted angrily to public health masking and distancing restrictions. Those rules have largely gone away, but some people are still angry at restaurant workers in northern Michigan.

Visits to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore have been down the last couple of months.

Across the northwest lower region, conference and event tourism is looking strong this summer.