Leelanau County and the Traverse City area continue to get exposure in the national media.
The peninsula is listed No. 4 place to go in an article titled “24 places to go in 2024.”
The list focuses on “largely undiscovered” or “hidden gems” rather than the typical concrete jungles publications tend to promote.
CNN senior producer Marnie Hunter said this about the area.
“Refreshing, unsalty Lake Michigan lures boatloads of tourists in summer, but the shoreline, quaint towns and rolling countryside of Northwest Michigan have plenty to offer year-round,” Hunter continues. “On Grand Traverse Bay, Traverse City makes a great home base for exploring wineries on the Old Mission and Leelanau peninsulas or picking cherries or apples in season. Then fall’s foliage is ripe for peeping, followed by winter’s inviting blankets of snow ... From Traverse City, the scenic M-22 highway winds up the Leelanau Peninsula and hooks back down through Leland, home to a historic fishing village and a collection of interesting shops and galleries.”
The article continues to feature Glen Arbor, Leland and Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore with various photos.
Farm Club in Elmwood Township got a random shout out in the article for serving “beautifully prepared dishes showcasing the regions ingredients — many grown on site -- in a minimalist, barn like space that spills outdoors.”
Leelanau stands tall with Sumba Island, Indonesia; Turkey’s Black Sea Coast; Tartu, Estonia; Tainan, Taiwan; Culbra, Puerto Rico, to name a few other places listed.
The ranking is a nice recognition for an area that has been steadily growing in recent years as a travel destination.
“Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Leelanau making the top-10 is affirmation for the 1.5 million visitors that recreate here, and for the locals that call this place home,” SBDNL Superintendent Scott Tucker said.
Leelanau County received a large bump of tourism in 2011 when “Good Morning America” listed the National Park as the most “beautiful place in America.”
“It’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle,” Tucker said.
The number of jobs that federal officials say can be attributed to the presence of the National Lakeshore in our region only continues to rise — as do the numbers of visitors to the lakeshore. The amount of money those visitors are spending in our community is also rising, as are other positive economic indicators.
The 2,730 jobs estimated in the 2021 report added some $82.4 million to local payrolls. Most of that money came from the 1.7 million people who visited Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore last year and spread about $206 million around the community, according to National Park Service estimates.
The report cites some $147 million in “value added” by the National Lakeshore to the gross domestic product of Leelanau County, Benzie County and Grand Traverse County, which are all considered as “gateways” to Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Of course, a lot of tourism and other visitation would be going on around here regardless of whether the National Park Service acquired its roughly 71,000 acres property back in 1970.
