MANITOWOC (NBC 26) — The Manitowoc-Two Rivers Tourism guide is out highlighting one of the Lakeshore's biggest industries.
- The two city's tourism department's released the guide this week, 12 pages longer than last year's.
- Manitowoc Director of Tourism says the guide is a great way to draw people and was a big success last year.
- Greg Vadney of the Rahr West Art Museum, told me he loves working on the guide and it gives his museum a voice.
The Lakeshore may be foggy and snowy now but this area is a hub for tourism. Here’s a look at this year's tourism efforts after the release of the largest visitor guide to date.
Director of Tourism Courtney Hansen knows just how important visitors are to the Lakeshore.
"Tourism is a huge industry here in the city of Manitowoc,” she said. “It just continues to grow, year after year."
Manitowoc partnered with Two Rivers for the second year to create a guide for anyone new to the area. A partnership that Hansen says is very valuable.
"We're so close many visitors do not know when one community stops and another begins,” Hansen said. “When you're here for a long weekend or a week, there's just so many things to do in both communities."
Tourism efforts that are key for Greg Vadney of the Rahr West Art Museum.
"He museum world is a tourism world,” he said.
Vadney told me the museum saw more than 19,000 visitors in 2023, the most since the pandemic. He says that could only be possible by drawing tourists to the area.
“To be able to work with the tourism office on something like the visitor guide and to partner with all of these other great museums in our community, allows us to have a much louder voice,” Vadney says.
This year, Hansen says Manitowoc will have many of the same events and festivals as 2023, but she says keep an eye out, new things may always come.
"Full steam ahead!" she said.
Hansen says the guide is 12 pages longer than last year and they have ordered a whopping 25,000 copies. Hansen says they will be in the visitor’s center, hotels and some shops.
