The excitement of the upcoming tourism season would have traveled through you if you were inside the ballroom at Stone Harbor Resort and Conference Center in Sturgeon Bay Tuesday morning. Destination Door County invited the business community to its annual National Travel and Tourism Week Breakfast, where it traditionally celebrates the year that was and looks ahead to the future. Last year proved to be a banner year as room tax revenues for 2021 totaled over $7.2 million, a 41 percent increase over 2019 and over three times more than what was collected in the room tax’s first year in 2007. The revenues collected by the Door County Tourism Zone are one of the indicators of the number of visitors coming to the county. Joining in on the morning's festivities were Wisconsin Secretary Designee Ann Sayers and Governor Tony Evers. Sayers says that Wisconsin's tourism industry is coming back more vital based on most metrics, including the number of old fashioneds sold.
Evers credits the state’s investment in the tourism industry using American Rescue Plan Act dollars for leading the charge that has made Wisconsin recover faster than many other states in the country.
Prior to Sayers and Evers speaking, Destination Door County President and CEO Julie Gilbert and Door County Tourism Zone Chairperson Josh Van Lieshout were among those that signed a new entity agreement between the two parties that will ensure further cooperation in the future. Thirty percent of the room tax revenues go back to the local municipalities, while much of the money goes towards collaborative marketing efforts.
Press release by Destination Door County:
Governor Evers, Tourism Secretary-designee Sayers and New Entity Agreement Ceremony Highlight Annual Door County Tourism Breakfast
May 3, 2022. Sturgeon Bay, WI - Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Tourism Secretary-designee Anne Sayers were welcomed by nearly 200 guests at Destination Door County’s annual National Travel & Tourism Week breakfast celebration at Stone Harbor Resort on Tuesday, May 3.
Governor Evers and Secretary Designee Sayers both spoke at the event and shared a message about the importance of tourism in the state, the economic impact it has and how impactful Door County has been with all 19 communities working together. Sayers also celebrated some of Door County’s recent achievements such as the Door County Maritime Museum’s new Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower, the Door County National Scenic Byway designation, and the new Eagle Tower in Peninsula State Park, which Sayers noted is the only fully accessible wood observation tower of its kind in the country.
Another event highlight included the ceremonial signing of a new entity agreement between Destination Door County (DDC) and the Door County Tourism Zone Commission. The agreement has been in the works for several months and the signing ceremony, witnessed by Governor Evers and Tourism Secretary designee Sayers, was the culmination of the process. The new entity agreement provides for continued collaboration, which the two organizations have had since 2007, and ushers in a new era of working together for the benefit of the tourism industry, municipalities, residents and the entire county.
Julie Gilbert, DDC’s President/CEO who started in November 2021, was very happy with her first National Travel and Tourism Week event in Door County. “It was great to see a strong showing at our event and have the wonderful support of the tourism industry,” stated Gilbert. “We are all Door County and by working together we will see the future of tourism continue to grow in a positive direction for all,” she said.
The beginning of the program featured six area students who were awarded scholarships as part of the DDC's Spirit of Door County program. The scholarships are named after a longtime Destination Door County employee, the late Carole Counard. Carole Counard Scholarship winners receive a $1,000 scholarship to use towards furthering their education. These scholarships are open to all Door County residents of any age pursuing further education at a four-year college, a two-year college or a technical college.
This year's scholarship winners were MaKayla Ash, Sturgeon Bay High School; Brooklyn Brauner and Ellie Krohn, Sevastopol High School; Anna Olson, Southern Door High School; Dex Tishler, Gibraltar High School; and Jackson Hitzeman, former Gibraltar High School student now attending UW-Madison.
DDC celebrates National Travel and Tourism week through May 7, 2022. In addition to hosting a special tourism breakfast, an 8-page newspaper insert was distributed in the Peninsula Pulse on April 29. View the digital version of that publication here.
