Escanaba Tourism is Up: Opportunities to Hedge With Other Industries?

Escanaba tourism' appeal is growing and that is a good thing because it raises interest and brings in new revenue. Tourism potential is just one of a number of possible industries that could flourish in the emerging hot spot of Escanaba as a northern destination. With locational asset Escanaba hosts within its immediate vicinity beaches, marina, hiking/biking, fishing, entertainment, dining, shopping, parks, casino and much more.. Visitors have a variety of activities to keep them busy all summer long (Need to work on winter tourism but there is a new ice skating rink going into the park so that will be nice.)

You may read Marquette Mining Journal: Tourism Up and Victor Cruise Lines Return to Esky as well as a little insight into the tourism industry in The Economic Impact of Tourism. 

Escanaba Light House Photo
For purchase :)

For economic purposes, I consider the possibility of developing industry clusters and how that might function in small towns like Escanaba (and surrounding). From a cluster perspective it is possible to hedge something like a tourism industry with other industries to build a stronger and more resilient local economy. The difference between national and local development is scale but similar underlining mechanics are present in both. Diverse business revenues sources that enhance local competencies (skill, knowledge,, etc. community environment) upon new infrastructure investments often maximize adaptability and resilience of the tax base (net positive tax return can be created to provide more revenue for cities.) 

If one were to lure new business and start-ups into the area we might think about how their unique attributes and competencies can support industry investment for business longevity. With a successful hedge when one industry declines another industry may grow creating stability in tax revenue and incomes. Possible hedges in addition to tourism might include entrepreneurship, skilled trades education, public service training, small batch manufacturing, shipbuilding/military/pleasure, virtual intellectual/tech oriented businesses, and our grand daddy the paper industry. 

In cluster hedging it is possible to share infrastructure and basic local knowledge to feed multiple industries at once through local competencies (attributes and skills). Thus if changes in the labor market occur,  labor/people may be able to shift from one industry to the next with relative ease using transferrable generalized knowledge. Furthermore, total skill development encourages innovation that comes from using such developed skills in applied ways (i.e. why skilled trades education locally can help multiple industries and draw more industry interest.).  Clusters share many suppliers and hire from each other in a way that adds collective knowledge to the whole system (Transference is increased within cluster but also exported as knowledge outside of the cluster creating longer tail economic benefits..)

These are just a couple of quick examples but if one were to look at how they enhance each other and map them out they could potentially determine which industries will further the cluster's development for the benefit of the community and healthy return to investors. The combination of industries in the same locality often creates innovation that impacts other industries. Even new industries can be developed if the components are in alignment and juiced with a little luck.  

.Hedging vs. Diversification