Travelers to Michigan are changing. According to researchers from the Michigan State University, the people who vacation in the state are increasingly educated and ethnically diverse and have interest in beaches, wineries and restaurants rather than fishing and boating.

After almost a decade of stagnation in the tourism industry, the Pure Michigan advertising campaign helped to attract more out-of-state tourists than in-state tourists. The senior communications specialist for Travel Michigan, Michelle Begnoche, mentioned that 3.2 million visitors who spent more than $1 billion in the state were directly motivated to come to Michigan by the 2011 advertising campaign.

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 Begnoche said, “Our goal at this point is to raise the national profile … and really make it one of the top vacation destinations in the nation”.

Gov. Rick Snyder said, "We are investing in a brand, so it doesn't happen overnight. ... The way you make changes is consistently investing in a thoughtful way over an extended time period."

According to the report released at Pure Michigan Governor's Conference on Tourism in Grand Rapids this year, tourism should rise another 6 percent.