MARQUETTE — As winter has turned into spring, summer is on the horizon and the outdoor recreation industry in Munising and the Alger County area is expected to start booming.

While last summer held many unknowns with the pandemic, the lakeshore area still reported record-breaking tourism numbers.

It was a guessing game last year, but it’s expected this summer’s tourism numbers will be strong, Greater Munising Bay Partnership/Alger County Chamber of Commerce CEO Dr. Kathy Reynolds said.

“We’re anticipating that it’s going to be very busy this summer. I mean reservations, I think, are up and our attractions and things like that,” she said. “Everybody had a good summer last year, even when some were doing 50% capacity. I think they anticipate, we all do, a very busy summer.”

Reynolds, along with many in Alger County, are expecting these high numbers this year based off of what brought many up to the lakeshore last year, and that’s people wanting to travel and get out of town, she said. But the business owners in Munising are used to this as things change overnight, she added. There will be more preparation put into this year’s festivities and attractions as record-shattering numbers are an expectation at this point.

“We had such an extremely busy year last year, so it’s not like we had a slow year and all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Yay, we’re going to have a big year,'” Reynolds said. “We’ve had growth now for about 10 years, we had one other year where it was substantial, but every year has been an increase.”

Around the beginning of springtime is when attractions such as tours and cruises are just getting started, she said.

“Typically people are on vacation, some of them are taking a break right now, usually April’s really slow in town. People need to rest before it starts because some of these businesses are also busy in the winter,” Reynolds said. “It’s kind of the same routine, everybody’s starting to work on their scheduling and they’ve been hiring people already.”

But now everyone’s starting to think about getting out and about again, and officials are making sure things are kicking into gear by the beginning of May to be prepared for a surge in tourism.

This early springtime period is used for a break for a lot of employees and owners, because there’s no time for a break once the summer is in full swing, she said.

Reynolds added she’s anticipating the protocols of sanitizing and mask wearing to continue for activities in Alger County. The exact event and attraction capacity is currently unknown, as that depends on the state epidemic orders that may be in place at a given time.

The Greater Munising Bay Partnership/ Alger County Chamber of Commerce can be reached at 906-387-2138 to answer any further questions.