Pure Michigan Encourages Visitors to Take It Slow for 2025 Tourism Campaign

Pure Michigan's new 2025 visitation campaign invites guests to the state to take it slow during their travels as part of a new slow tourism initiative.

Officials from Pure Michigan are banking on the popularity of slow travel in 2025 as a way to help people unwind from “years of ratcheting national stress,” according to a (Lansing) City Pulse report.

“We've seen an increased trend of people wanting to just relax and unwind on their vacation,” said Kelly Wolgamott, the vice president of Pure Michigan, the state's official travel and destination marketing organization. “Vacation is a huge priority for travelers, even in inflationary times where we're making cutbacks on our home budgets. People are still allocating funds for travel.”

Wolgamott emphasizes that Pure Michigan will seek to promote the slow tourism mindset by highlighting activities like culinary experiences that await guests in some of Michigan's largest cities, including Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Traverse City. Pure Michigan will also work with attractions such as the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Leelanau and Benzie counties and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising and Grand Marais to ensure tourists experience diverse environments to relax and unwind.

While Pure Michigan is taking a statewide approach to its slow tourism campaign, it will concentrate on highlighting unique experiences for visitors. Those experiences include exploring the wineries in Traverse City, the Empire Bluff Trail in Leelanau County, Tulip Time in Holland, the Lilac Festival on Mackinac Island, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula.

The concept of slow travel originated from the slow food and slow cities movement in Italy, which began during the 1980s. Research from the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom suggests that careful development of slow tourism is essential to prevent negative environmental and societal impacts.

Learn more about the state's tourism treasures on the Pure Michigan website.