EXGR has resources to assist with your trip to Grand Rapids like The Experience™ 2020 visitor guide
Grand Rapids, Mich. – Experience Grand Rapids (EXGR) encourages people to use the newly updated The Experience™ visitor guide to map out their trip to Grand Rapids during National Plan for Vacation Day. National Plan for Vacation Day will take place on January 28th and was created by the U.S. Travel Association to help get Americans to commit their time off for the rest of the year at the start of the year.
In 2018, *more than half of American workers (55%) failed to use all their time off. That’s 768 million unused vacation days, of which 236 million were forfeited completely. Studies show that those who plan for vacation are more likely to use all or most of their days off—hence the idea of National Plan for Vacation Day.
“We want to offer up our services to help people plan their getaway to Grand Rapids,” said Janet Korn, Senior Vice President at Experience Grand Rapids. “Our primary destination marketing goal is to attract visitors and encourage locals to invite their friends and relatives to visit Grand Rapids. This positively impacts our local economy. For instance, in 2018 we had over 18.8 million visitors to Kent County, many of which were vacationing in the Grand Rapids area. This translated to over $1.39 billion in Kent County visitor spending (Longwoods International).”
Using vacation days to travel not only has a positive impact on the local economy, it also boosts the national economy. *In fact, if Americans used all their time off to travel, our economy could see a boost of $151.5 billion in travel spending and an additional 2 million U.S. jobs.
With January 28th right around the corner, here is a list of resources and tools to assist you with planning your vacation or staycation in Grand Rapids:
- Download The Experience™ 2020 visitor guide- A travel sized booklet that contains all the information you would need to plan your trip to Grand Rapids. The guide includes stimulating visuals, festival listings, restaurant options and more.
- Search the Experience Grand Rapids website- An online hub housing all Experience Grand Rapids resources.
- Follow the Experience Grand Rapids social media channels-
- Explore The Insider Experience blog- A blog that encompasses both listicles and in-depth perspective of the happenings in Grand Rapids.
National resources are also available. The U.S. Travel Association offers a Vacation Planning Tool that allows users to plot out their vacations for the year. Once trips are planned through the tool, there is an option to export to personal or work calendars and share with friends, family and co-workers.
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About Experience Grand Rapids
Established in 1927, Experience Grand Rapids (EXGR), the areas’ official destination marketing organization, strengthens the region’s economic vitality and quality of life by marketing Grand Rapids/Kent County as a preferred visitor destination.