Chris Holman welcomes back Julie Pingston, CDME, CMP, CTA / President & CEO Choose Lansing, Lansing, MI.

Watch Julie and Chris discuss Choose LansingTM the destination marketing organization of Mid-Michigan, their recent annual meeting and the sharing of the state of the tourism and hospitality industry and 2023 local visitor economic impact.

In the conversation Chris had several things he wanted to learn from Julie:

Welcome back Julie,  before we get into your recent celebration remind the Michigan business community about Choose Lansing?

February 27th, Choose Lansing held it's First Annual Meeting, continuing the Annual Meetings of the former CVB, what were the highlights?

Several well deserving area businesses were acknowledged, share some about them?

Choose Lansing's brand change promotional roll out continues, where does that process stand as of Spring 2024?

Are there Spring 2024 events we should know about?

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Earlier MBN had been on the road Tuesday, February 27th, MBN went on the road to East Lansing, MI. Visiting the Breslin Center as Choose LansingTM held its annual meeting on Feb. 27, sharing the state of the tourism and hospitality industry and 2023 local visitor economic impact. It also celebrated the CTA Star of the Year and recognized longstanding businesses in the community. 

Watch the proceedings of the 2024 Choose LansingTM Annual Meeting, in the YouTube video shared below:

Julie Pingston, Choose Lansing President and CEO, reflects, “The industry continues to gain positive momentum, ending 2023 with 1,049,407 rooms consumed. The hotel occupancy rate landed at 53.8%, a number offset by the addition of more than 700 hotel rooms to the overall inventory. The region’s hotel average daily rate also continued to rebound, ending 2023 at $113.96 compared to $110.29 in 2022.”

During the annual meeting, Choose LansingTM celebrated the launch of its rebrand and recognized many of the region’s 476 Certified Tourism Ambassadors who are dedicated to making every visitor experience a positive one. Those acknowledged included CTAs who have served the community for five and 10 years. Tracy Welch, CTA was celebrated as the CTA Star of the Year. 

Choose Lansing acknowledged the following local business anniversaries:

Silver Bells in the City - 40 years

Beggar’s Banquet - 50 years

Abrams Planetarium - 60 years

Riverwalk Theatre - 60 years 

Linn & Owen Jewelers - 107 years

“2023 was a year of continued growth from the hit the industry endured in 2020. We worked hard to support the hospitality industry, bring visitors to the region, and advocate for a more accessible community,” said Pingston. “As we look forward to 2024, our focus will be to serve as a resource to event planning clients, while continuing to help our local hospitality partners thrive. We remain optimistic that we are well prepared to meet any new challenges we might encounter as the industry moves forward.”

Find the full 2023 Choose LansingTM annual report and additional details at https://www.lansing.org/about-us/annual-report-and-meeting/ 

About Choose LansingTM
The vision of Choose LansingTM is to inspire everyone to celebrate and love Greater Lansing as much as we do! This goes hand in hand with our mission, to positively impact our community’s quality of life by developing the region as a visitor destination. Learn more at www.lansing.org.

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