Today’s Muskegon Chronicle has a story on a local tourism promotion intiative where Muskegon boasts about being “Up North enough.” Evidently, the idea is to peel off some who would continue on to Ludington and parts further north and have them Settle for Muskegon. (Now that’s an advertising slogan for you…)

I know times are tight and we’re all scrambling to protect the jobs and economic stimulus tourism provides, but I firmly believe we’re stronger together that we are apart. As I’ve noted previously, Michigan’s tourism spending trails behind the investment made by other states. This hurts all of us, whether you live in Muskegon, Frankfort, Leland or anywhere else. Rather than competing against each other, we should do far more to make sure others know about all the opportunities the Lake Michigan coast provides to visitors and residents alike. To some degree, we’re already doing this, but we should be doing far more. From world-class state parks, state and national forests, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, picturesque little villages and some of the best fly fishing around, Northwest Michigan has it all. We just need to share all that we have going for us with a much wider audience.