Rural Tourism Assessment: Roscommon County Summary

July 30, 2024 - Andy Northrop<northro5@msu.edu>, Will Cronin<croninwi@msu.edu>, and Garrett Ziegler<zieglerg@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension

The Roscommon County Economic Development Corporation and Michigan State University Extension established a partnership in early 2023 to strengthen rural tourism across the county and three communities by capitalizing on stakeholder knowledge, input, and first-time visitor perspectives to the area. Learn more about this initiative in the article, "Initiative launches to strengthen small-town, rural tourism in Roscommon County, Michigan."

Following MSU Extension’s Rural Tourism Assessment format, Roscommon County along with Prudenville/Houghton Lake, St. Helen, and Village of Roscommon participated in the multi-phase effort.

  • Phase 1 was conducted April 2023.
  • Phase 2 was conducted September - October 2023.
  • Phase 3 was completed May 2024.
  • At the time of drafting this summary, Phase 4 is being planned for Fall 2024.

As part of RTA, Phase 2 consists of a comprehensive FIT assessment in and with participating partners. In this effort, Roscommon County and the three identified communities received five first-time visitors at separate times between September and October 2023.

All five visitors spent three nights, four days visiting various stakeholder identified tourism assets from Phase 1, as well as a wide range of self-identified tourism assets while on site. A total of 15 nights were spent in the county: eight nights in hotels, four nights in motels, two nights camping, and one night in a bed & breakfast.

Visitor profiles

  • 1 Female from Generation X visited with her spouse between Friday-Monday.
  • 1 Male from Generation X visited alone between Tues-Friday.
  • 3 Males from Millennial Generation visited alone between Thurs-Sunday.
  • All visitors are married residents of either Upper or Lower Peninsula, MI, and are employees of Michigan State University Extension with various expertise.

Visitor diverse personal interests

  • Artists
  • (Mountain) Bike Rider(s)
  • Birder(s)
  • Camper(s)
  • Foodie
  • Hiker(s)
  • Paddler(s)
  • Nature and Outdoor Enthusiast(s)
  • Trail Enthusiast(s)
  • Water Lover
  • Trip Planners
  • Avid/World Travelers

Download the Roscommon County Executive Summary

Roscommon County Rural Tourism Assessment Communities

Village of Roscommon

Houghton Lake and Prudenville

St. Helen

Additional Resources

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Tag List
  • business,
  • community,
  • economic development,
  • first impressions tourism,
  • first impressions tourism assessment,
  • msu extension,
  • tourism
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