Tourism is big all along the Lake Michigan shoreline, and the South Haven Van Buren County Convention and Visitors Bureau is launching a campaign highlighting the impact on the economy. In 2019, the most recent year they have figures for, $118.3 million dollars were brought to the community from visitors. CVB executive director Jen Sistrunk tells us people are coming to the area from everywhere.
“Oh my goodness, we’ve had them from around the globe,” says Sistrunk. “We have some staff that can speak a little bit of other languages so there’s that. We see people from everywhere. It’s just amazing.”
She says they are also working to get people to realize South Haven is a great destination year-round.
“Just getting people to understand that South Haven is not just a beach town. We’re a trail town. In 2019, we were designated a Pure Michigan Trail Town. We were actually the first Pure Michigan Trail Town designated by the state of Michigan.”
Sistrunk says during the COVID-19 pandemic, people from outside South Haven found that includes the Kal-Haven Trail, the Van Buren Trail, dunes, and more. For the numbers, she says 1,479 workers have tourism-related jobs, and $32 million in wages are direct from the tourism industry.
