Mackinac Island primed for return of Canadian visitors

Drive across the border. Cross The Mighty Mac. Hop on a ferry.

In less than two hours - depending on the traffic - you can find yourself in a world-famous tourist destination.

Many Sault residents are familiar with historic Mackinac Island's horse-drawn carriages, majestic hotel and fudge. 

It’s been two summers since Canadians were able to stroll the streets. 

Since the island closes up for the winter, it will be at least another five months before they’re back.

That doesn’t mean Tim Hygh, CEO of Mackinac Island Tourism, isn’t excited with anticipation now that land borders between Canada and the U.S. are open to travellers.

Hygh just got back from a Michigan conference where he learned that overall Canadian tourism business to the U.S. fell 92 per cent.

“When you look at our web traffic, which is a pretty good indicator of what’s going to happen, Canadian traffic this year compared to 2019 was down 57 per cent. That’s when our overall traffic has been up 68 per cent,” said Hygh.

In fact, Mackinac was booming this past summer. 

COVID rules were lifted and Americans took to the roads, especially since European travel was restricted. 

“We anticipated from the research we did that people were definitely going to travel because they have been pent up for so long,” said Hygh. “The road trip was going to be one of the favourite methods of travelling in 2021 because of the type of destination that Mackinac is. We anticipated that people would choose us and they did.”

He described the summer as very intense.

A Detroit Free Press article in October talked to Chris Shepler, a third-generation operator of Shepler's Ferry that shuttles visitors to Mackinac Island, about the tourist crunch.

"This summer was out of control, off the charts crazy," he told the Free Press. "Absolutely crazy. We set records for our all-time busiest summer in the history of our company."

Hygh admitted that staffing in these situations is tough, but that’s the case worldwide.

He said staff across the board, no matter which company they worked for or what kind of job they did, were outstanding.

“It’s just been nuts,'' he said. “There was a lot of overtime. People worked long hours week after week and did so with a hospitable nature. Now they get a well-deserved rest until late April.

With a few small exceptions, Mackinac Island all but shuts down for tourism in the winter.

“What happens in Mackinac during the winter is construction. There is a lot of reinvestment back into the properties during the winter,” said Hygh.

When Canadians find their way back Hygh said they shouldn’t expect any changes.

“One of the things we’re famous for is not changing,” he said. “People like to make their memories on Mackinac Island and come back and relive them.”

Hygh says the Canadian market is very important to Mackinac Island.

“It’s a good fit for Canadian travellers. We can’t wait to see our Canadian travellers return again this spring.”

Linda Hoath, executive director at the Sault Area Conventions and Visitors Bureau, says that like Mackinac, Sault Michigan has been busy with U.S. travellers, but “we miss our Canadian neighbours.”

She said the Canadian visitors to Sault Michigan are like family and in some cases they are family. There’s a familiarity and openness between the two Saults.

“We know a lot of our visitors,” she said.

And just like Mackinac, Canadians who visit Sault Mich. won’t notice changes.

“We’ve been blessed that nothing has closed,” she said.

The only difference will be COVID precautions such as sanitizing stations and Plexiglass partitions where needed. Masking for visitors is optional.

For the latest COVID numbers and news in Chippewa County click here.