ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – The summer tourism season is in full swing in Delta County. According to Visit Escanaba, it’s shaping up to be a great one.
“Last year’s tourism was pretty strong,” said Visit Escanaba CEO Robert Micheau. “We’ve seen consistent growth on tourism for the past ten years or so, and this year seems to be even off to a better start.”
Back in 2023, a big contributor to tourism was a cruise line that made frequent stops on Little Bay de Noc. This year marks the return of regular cruise ship voyages to the city.
“Having cruise ships come here is really cool,” Micheau said. “It’s a great atmosphere for the community having more people in town to go to businesses and to experience the community. Hopefully, they come back again!”
However, it’s not only cruise passengers who are responsible for this summer’s numbers. Micheau says bookings at some local hotels are up 15% – 20% from 2024.
“The beaches and trails and events have really been buzzing this summer,” he said. “It’s great to see people come here and visit and find out what the locals have known for a long time, that this is a great place to explore in the summertime.”
The area’s biggest annual event, the U.P. State Fair, is coming up in just a few weeks. It’s guaranteed to draw large crowds.
“100,000 people or so come to town,” Micheau said. “It’s really exciting. It’s a fun buildup that we’re excited to see again this year.”
Along with recreation, business is also bringing a lot of people to Escanaba.
“We have a lot of construction crews and project managers and engineers and corporate travelers that are coming to town with these projects,” Micheau explained. “That creates compression, so there’s even more people in town and all the local businesses have a lot of people coming to see them. It’s really great to see that development happening here too. It helps tourism for sure.”
Regardless of construction projects or special events happening in the area, Micheau says Delta County always attracts tourists.
“Delta County is a beautiful part of the Upper Peninsula,” he said. “We’re on two beautiful bays, and people love to come and experience that atmosphere. You can see it in other Lake Michigan towns, even Traverse City and places like that in Lower Michigan. I think we have that similar value for folks when they come here.”
Visit Escanaba expects strong tourism traffic to continue through September, as well as in summers to come.
“When you look at the development projects and the increase in tourism that we keep seeing, the long-term outlook for our community to keep growing is really good,” said Micheau. “Talking to the business owners here, everybody is excited about it. I think we’re all going to be in for some really amazing things in the future.”
To learn about other events and attractions in Delta County, check out visitescanaba.com.
