Hunter Dyke | hdyke@mlive.com

By Jessica Haynes | jhaynes1@mlive.com

Visitors cheered at sporting events, toured art and history museums, visited local attractions and, most notably, poured about $1.1 billion into the economy of Washtenaw County in 2016, according to a report created by Michigan-based research and consulting firm Anderson Economic Group.

Figures included in the 2016 report surpassed those in the 2014 report, including the addition of around 9,000 full-time jobs and 731,000 hotel stays throughout the county.

Click through to see what kind of impact the 3.7 million tourists to Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Dexter, Chelsea and other surrounding communities had on the Washtenaw County economy.

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Hunter Dyke | hdyke@mlive.com

About the Washtenaw County Convention and Visitors Bureau's report

Mary Kerr, president and CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the impact of tourism in Washtenaw County continues to grow in a letter included in the 2016 report.

“The increase in total visitors and visitor spending speaks to the charm and appeal of our world-class dining, attractions, and events,” Kerr said. “Additionally, we’re thrilled that employment solely supported by visitor spending has grown to almost 9,000 full-time equivalent jobs in Washtenaw County.”

2016 also saw the merging of the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti tourism organizations into the Washtenaw County Convention and Visitors Bureau, a move Kerr said “truly paid off with the best, most effective team working in unison to attract visitors to Washtenaw County.”

Margaret Wyzlic, communications manager for the Washtenaw County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said a larger team has allowed the organization to have a bigger impact.

“It also helps us to avoid overlapping our efforts so we can be more efficient and move forward in a more impactful way,” Wyzlic said.

Washtenaw County is now considered a “Trailblazer,” a national recognition shared by cities like Denver and Austin as destinations that “continually strive to find fresh and relevant ways to engage the marketplace, while keeping the community excited about the benefits tourism provides.”

Some of the figures included in the report are based on net-new visitors spending, defined as spending that would not have been realized if not for visitors.

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Hunter Dyke | The Ann Arbor News

The 2016 report by the numbers

Anderson Economic Group looked at figures referenced in the 2014 report to evaluate what exactly has happened in Washtenaw County in 2016.

Here’s a quick look at the 2016 report:

• $1.1 billion in total economic impact, a 26 percent increase compared to 2014

• $770 million in net-new visitor spending at area businesses, a 28 percent increase compared to 2014

• 3.7 million visitors, a 23 percent increase compared to 2014

• 8,974 full-time equivalent jobs, a 13 percent increase compared to 2014

• $221 million in earnings and wages, an 18 percent increase compared to 2014

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Courtesy of Washtenaw County Conventions and Visitors Bureau

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Angela J. Cesere | MLive.com file photo

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Ann Arbor attractions

According to the 2016 report, the most well-known attractions in Tree Town include the University of Michigan, the Ann Arbor Art Fair and restaurants that offer up a variety of dining options.

According to the 2016 report, Ann Arbor is one of the top three destinations on the Pure Michigan website with the amount of people visiting and clicking on the website increasing by 11 percent compared to 2015.

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Melanie Maxwell | melaniemaxwell@mlive.com

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The Ypsi factor

According to the 2016 report, the most attractive attributes of Ypsilanti are Eastern Michigan University, different restaurant and dining options and accessibility.

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Matt Weigand | The Ann Arbor News

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Employment and economy

A 26 percent increase in total economic impact, for a total of $1.1 billion, was one of the key takeaways from the 2016 report, Wyzlic said.

“That’s a huge amount of money,” Wyzlic said. “It really speaks to how important tourism and hospitality are in our county, not just for small businesses and for arts and culture but also for jobs.”

There are about 9,000 full-time jobs related to the tourism industry, Wyzlic said, supported by visitors arriving on the University of Michigan campus, taking in art fairs and concerts or crowding into restaurants during events like Restaurant Week and the Taste of Ann Arbor.

That number increased by 13 percent in two years, according to the 2016 report.

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Hunter Dyke | The Ann Arbor News

Hotel industry

Plumbers, sports players, scientists and families helped push the number of hotel stays in 2016 to 731,000.

Conventions put on by the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters and Michigan Department of Treasury helped contribute to those hotel stays, with 81,000 room bookings related to organization events contributing about $19 million in economic impact for the county, the report said.

The county also maintained a 68.1 percent occupancy rate for hotels, making it number one in occupancy for any Michigan destination and number two in the Midwest, despite a 7 percent increase in hotel room supply since 2014.

Those figures speak to the continuing demand and great quality of hotels in Washtenaw county, Wyzlic said.

“Even though our hotel supply increased, we were able to maintain the same occupancy rate,” she said. “I think it says great things about all of our hoteliers who work really hard to take great care of our guests.”

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The work load is shared by some of the convention’s staff, with at least seven employees dedicated to contacting organization and association executives to bring their events to Washtenaw County.

2016 saw record-breaking sales, including a 16 percent increase in room nights from leads (parties that have inquired about holding events in the area) and a 29 percent increase in room nights from bookings (parties that have already reserved rooms and event space.)

Both figures are important to consider when it comes to gauging interest in bringing events to the county, Wyzlic said.

“That’s a valuable measure for us, it speaks to how many people are reaching out and thinking about it,” Wyzlic said. “Even if they don’t book with us, it allows us to continue that conversation for the future.”

95 percent of the Washtenaw County Convention and Visitors Bureau's revenues come from the accommodations tax, which accounted for about $6.4 million in revenue for 2016.

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Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News

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International and national appeal

More than 52 million people entered to win a home in Ann Arbor as part of HGTV's Urban Oasis sweepstakes in 2016, vying for the two-story, 1,510-square-foot bungalow valued at $715,805.

The sweepstakes was huge for Washtenaw County, Wyzlic said, and a compelling way to encourage visitors to visit the region and consider sticking around for a while.

“It’s one of the bigger promotional opportunities we had to talk about why Ann Arbor is a great place to live, to send kids to school, to start a business,” Wyzlic said. “It’s a whole cycle.”

While University of Michigan football is still a top driver for tourism, Wyzlic said, an economic impact study related to the International Champions Cup in summer 2016 revealed a total impact of $12.4 million, with about $8.8 million in net-new spending.

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MLive.com file photo

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