Survey: Tourists, travelers spent more than $17 billion in MI

A newly released survey has found that tourists and travelers spent an estimated $17.2 billion in Michigan last year.

That's up 14 percent from $15.1 billion in 2009. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. on Wednesday released results of the survey. The survey found $12.6 billion was spent on travel for leisure and $4.6 billion was spent on business travel.

The survey also found that spending by out-of-state visitors rose 21 percent. It says 152,600 jobs were generated by Michigan's tourism industry in 2010, up 10,000 from 2009.

The national survey was conducted by D.K. Shifflet & Associates in McLean, Va.