By GRAHAM JAEHNIG

gjaehnig@mininggazette.com

On June 1, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer established the Growing Michigan Together Council to develop a statewide strategy aimed at making Michigan a place everyone wants to call home by attracting and retaining talent, improving education throughout the state, upgrading and modernizing our transportation and water infrastructure to meet 21st century needs, and continuing Michigan’s economic momentum, according to a statement from Whitmer’s office.

In the release, the governor said that over the last few decades, Michigan residents have been finding opportunity elsewhere because jobs and talent have been pushed out of the state.

In the western Upper Peninsula, however, the World Population Review reported that Houghton County experienced a growth rate of 0.19% in the past year. The population of Michigan’s 42nd largest county since 2010 has seen a growth of 2.6%, rising from 36,628 to 37,580. Keweenaw County, the same source reports, saw a population decrease, from 2,024 in 2022 to 2,013 this year.

While these losses and gains may seem insignificant, what has significantly increased since 2020 is the number of people selecting the western U.P. as a tourist destination. Visit Keweenaw’s Tourism Statistics Dashboard estimated that between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2022, 254,000 overnight visitors stayed in the Houghton-Keweenaw County area. Visit Keweenaw is a membership-based 501c6 nonprofit organization, formed in 1968 as the Keweenaw Tourism Council.

According to the organization’s estimates, overnight visitors to the Keweenaw spent approximately $85.5 million during the first three quarters of 2022. Even when adjusting for inflation, this represents an increase of 3.5% compared to the same period in the previous year. On average, each overnight visitor spent $471.27, including lodging, food and beverage, transportation, retail and recreation.

The increase in tourism to the area is occurring faster than the area can absorb it, according to some reports. During its May regular meeting, the Keweenaw County Board heard concerns regarding tourists and tourism in that county.

Paul Putnam, Michigan State University Extension District 1 director, covering the central and western counties in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, read a report prepared by MSU Baraga County Extension Office’s Tourism and Community Development educator Will Cronin.

The report, said Putnam, focused on addressing

the following issues in the Visit Keweenaw service area.

The tourism pressure issues that have been identified include:

• Visitor expectations, particularly poor or no cellphone service.

• Fuel and food availability, especially in the evening hours.

• Lack or access to medical care and other vital services.

The second part of the sessions focused on search-and-rescue services due to more poorly prepared visitors.

• Kayaking on Lake Superior, with or without proper experience.

• Impact of more visitors on residents such as “characters of the community,” traffic and demands on municipal services.

• Trespassing on private property to access sites, especially sites that have gone viral on social media.

• Short-term rental impacts and policies.

As tourism numbers have been increasing, so have issues of short-term rentals across the region. In March 2022, for example, Keweenaw County’s Eagle Harbor Township conducted a public hearing on a draft of a short-term rental ordinance that, if adopted, would restrict the number of short-term rentals in the township, as well as regulating those that already exist.

Just five months previous to Eagle Harbor Township’s first address of STR, Houghton County’s Calumet Village Planning Commission also began grappling with the issue. Short-term rentals or “vacation rental by owner” units have become very popular to travelers as unusual alternatives to hotels, then Planning Commission Chairwoman Colleen Kobe told the council, with some apartments in the village already being marketed as Airbnbs.

“At first, that doesn’t seem very significant,” Kobe said, “but that actually matters a lot.”

For example, she said, in the village of Calumet, there are people who are already renting some apartments and spaces in the Downtown District, as vacation rentals by owners. but technically, in the current zoning ordinance, that is not a permitted use, because they are not defined as short-term occupancy.

In a report to the Village Council, Kobe said that while the Planning Commission continued rewriting and updating the Zoning Ordinance, short-term rental usage could be added, but if building owners start renting them out on a short-term basis, it will greatly subtract the number of long-term apartments, houses, and other rental units available. The reduced availability of long-term rentals could potentially result in a population decline, which the village cannot afford.