2024 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

As the city’s Destination Management Organization, we are measured on four key performance indicators: Future Group Room Nights, Minneapolis Convention Center Revenue, Lodging Taxes Generated, and Partner Business Growth and Retention. The 2024 results were as follows:

Key Future Bookings

Following are select future events the Meet Minneapolis team booked in 2024:

• 2026 USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship 10-13s
• 2026 WWE SummerSlam
• 2027 USA Volleyball Girls 18s Junior National Championship
• 2028 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
• 2028 Al-Anon International Convention
• 2028 American Public Works Association PWX Conference
• 2029 Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting
• 2030 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference

2024 Impact Highlights

In 2024, Minneapolis solidified its reputation as a dynamic destination, driven by a powerful mix of major events, strategic marketing, and a thriving hospitality industry. From record-breaking hotel demand to high-profile conventions and sporting events, the city’s tourism sector reached new heights. With a versatile convention center, a packed event calendar, and innovative marketing campaigns, Minneapolis continues to attract visitors and generate significant economic impact.

1. Physicists and Hoops Fans Drive Minneapolis Hotels to New Heights

When conventions, concerts, sporting events, and festivals overlap in Minneapolis, it has a profound impact on the city’s tourism and hospitality industry, attracting a larger, more diverse influx of visitors, and filling hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues. This layering effect amplifies spending, creates more robust employment opportunities and enhances Minneapolis' reputation as a vibrant, must-visit destination. In March 2024, the American Physical Society March Meeting and the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament overlapped, resulting in Minneapolis hotels recording the most hotel rooms ever sold in a week (59,590). The following week, Minneapolis welcomed the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament to become the first city to host both the women’s and men’s events in the same year. Combined attendance was more than 220,000, highlighted by the first sellout of the women’s tournament in the 31-year history of the event.

Additional examples of the layering effect of concurrent events in Minneapolis:

• Feb. 15-17: Minnesota Music Educators Association (attendance: 12,600)
• Feb. 16-18: Twisted Moose Gymnastics (2,000)
• Feb. 17-19: Stifel Loppet Cup (40,000)

• May 6-9: American Clean Power (7,440)
• May 6-9: Twins vs. Seattle series (44,779)
  • Tuesday, May 7: 10,036 (highest ever hotel room demand night in Minneapolis)

• July 17-20: Academy of General Dentistry (2,000)
• July 18-21: Stonewall Sports National Tournament & Summit (2,500)
• July 18-21: Rubik’s WCA North American Championship (3,125)
• July 19-21: Herbalife North American Extravaganza (14,550)
• July 20-21: Twins vs. Milwaukee series (78,006)
  • July 14-20: $12,560,905 (highest ever weekly hotel room revenue in Minneapolis)

• August 16-17: Ellen DeGeneres shows (~7,500)
• August 16/18: Metallica (~100,000)
• Aug. 17: Green Day/Smashing Pumpkins/Rancid/Linda Lindas (~40,000)
• Aug. 17-20: World Brewing Congress (950)
• Aug. 19: Def Leppard/Journey/Steve Miller Band (~35,000)

• Oct. 5: University of Minnesota football vs. USC (50,913)
• Oct. 5-6: Brick Fest Live (10,300)
• Oct. 5-8: Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (6,772)
• Oct. 6: Twin Cities Marathon (~21,000)

2. Gymnastics City USA

From June 21-30, downtown Minneapolis was transformed into Gymnastics City USA as it hosted four of the sport’s most prestigious events, highlighted by the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. The Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC) was the site of the USA Gymnastics Championships, featuring rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatic gymnastics, and trampoline & tumbling; the USAG National Congress and Trade Show; and the USA Gymnastics for All National Championships & Gymfest. It all led up to the four-day Olympic Trials at Target Center, where fans watched the country’s best artistic gymnasts vie for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Additional events included the Flip Zone fan interaction area and Promenade du Nord – a Parisian experience featuring vendors, food and entertainment. In all, more than 200,000 visitors came to downtown Minneapolis for one or more Gymnastics City USA events.

3. The Versatility of the MCC

Throughout 2024, the Minneapolis Convention Center showcased its remarkable versatility, accommodating events of all sizes and types with ease. From large-scale conventions and trade shows to intimate meetings and exciting sporting events, the MCC’s flexible spaces, sustainable practices and dedicated staff routinely and successfully catered to a wide range of needs. Several groups in 2024 utilized the entire MCC during their time in Minneapolis, including the American Physical Society, USA Gymnastics, the American Cleanpower Association and the American Public Health Association. Other groups met simultaneously in the building. For example, from March 14-17 the MCC hosted a wide range of events – Northwest Sportshow, Jurassic Quest, KAR Regional Dance Competition and Minnesota Optional and Xcel State Championships – demonstrating the award-winning venue’s world-class flexibility.

4. Marketing Minneapolis

In 2024, Meet Minneapolis took an always-on approach to leisure marketing, ensuring a consistent presence across audiences. Our brand anthem campaign, See What All the Fuss Is About, aimed to reshape perceptions of Minneapolis and drive overnight stays, while the Cultural Districts campaign encouraged visitors and locals to engage with the Minneapolis Cultural Districts. Seasonal efforts—including Minneapolis Summer Don’t Miss List, Fill Your Fall, ’Tis the Season for Holiday Cheer, and Winterapolis—encouraged year-round travel to Minneapolis and real-time campaigns like Bring Ya Ass and Beyond Game Day leveraged major events to drive overnight stays. Thanks in part to the multiple campaigns, our website set new visitor records with more than 3.5 million sessions (an 11.1% increase from 2023) and more than 1.2 million outbound clicks to partner websites, and our primary social media channels saw year-over-year followers grow more than 20% in 2024.

5. Successful Summer

With numerous key events at major venues throughout the city, Minneapolis hotels set several new records during the summer of 2024. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, hotels in Minneapolis recorded new post-pandemic highs for summer occupancy, room demand and room revenue. Nearly 680,000 hotel rooms were sold during the summer, an increase of more than 8% from 2023. Guest room revenue increased more than 18% to $131.8 million. The summer was capped by more than 223,400 hotel rooms sold in August – the most since August 2019. In addition, the occupancy rate this August was 70.2% – the highest since October 2019. From June through August, the Minneapolis Convention Center hosted nearly 50 meetings, events, conventions and trade shows, attracting more than 116,000 attendees to the downtown venue.

6. Largest Events of 2024

The MCC, U.S. Bank Stadium and other downtown venues hosted hundreds of major conventions, sporting events and large public consumer shows, resulting in significant economic impact for the city, thanks to the local tourism and hospitality industry.

• Groups holding large-scale conventions in Minneapolis included Herbalife International of America (attendance: 14,550), American Physical Society (12,785), Minnesota Music Educators Association (12,600), American Public Health Association (10,450), American Cleanpower Association (7,440), and GALA Choruses (7,000).
• The largest sporting events of 2024 included the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament (129,512), the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament (90,578), the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials (57,891), the USA Gymnastics Championships / USA Gymnastics For All National Championships & Gymfest / USA Gymnastics National Congress & Trade Show (52,010), and the January Thaw/Northern Lights Qualifier (41,740).
• The public events with the highest attendance at the MCC included the Twin Cities Auto Show (49,500), Minneapolis Home & Garden Show (36,415), Twin Cities Con (35,110), Minneapolis Boat Show (26,130), and The Ultimate RV Show (21,840).

2024 Key Initiatives

The Meet Minneapolis Legacy Project (MMLP) was formed in 2020 to develop targeted equity and racial reconciliation initiatives for Meet Minneapolis team members and the broader hospitality and tourism industry. In 2023, MMLP organized nine learning experiences for Meet Minneapolis staff and partners, aiming to foster a culturally fluent tourism and hospitality community, thus creating a welcoming and inclusive city. This year's activities included:

These initiatives reflect our ongoing commitment to aligning our values of equity, diversity, inclusion and access with organizational growth and partner success. Together, we build a more equitable future for Minneapolis.

2025 Key Events

Looking ahead to 2025, Minneapolis is set to host an exciting lineup of major events, conventions, and sporting events that will drive tourism and economic impact across the city. With a diverse mix of gatherings at the Minneapolis Convention Center and other key venues, the year promises to build on the momentum of past successes.

• Northern Lights Junior Volleyball – March 21-23 & 28-30
• Association of College and Research Libraries – April 2-5
• Society for Research in Child Development – May 1-3
• American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists – May 16-18
• American Optometric Association – June 25-28
• USA Volleyball Boys Junior National Championship – July 3-6
• American Health Information Management Association – October 12-14
• National Science Teaching Association – November 12-15
• International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship – December 26, 2025-January 6, 2026

Charting The Future: Industry Trends & Insights

Myha Gallager - Vice President Research, Future Partners

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Minneapolis Tourism Improvement District

A Tourism Improvement District (TID) is a public-private partnership created for the purpose of providing supplemental funding for new tourism activities by placing a service charge on the sale of a lodging room. Minnesota passed legislation in May 2023 for municipalities to consider forming TIDs with their hotel community. A Minneapolis TID Task Force concluded the petition drive at year-end with 73% of Minneapolis hotel properties choosing to favor the creation of a Tourism Improvement District. This number surpasses the 51% required by state statute to move a local ordinance forward to the Minneapolis City Council for approval. We expect to get the ordinance to the full council early this year and are excited to complete this third and final step in the formation of a Minneapolis Tourism Improvement District. Assuming the ordinance passes City Council, and following a 45-day waiting period, our goal is to begin collections sometime in Q2 this year. Creating a Tourism Improvement District in Minneapolis will benefit all Minneapolis hotels and the entire hospitality community by attracting more visitors to our city.

Destination Minneapolis: Charting the Future of Minneapolis Tourism

Meet Minneapolis has developed a strategic road map for the future by aligning the public, private and civic sectors around a shared tourism vision. Over 900 residents and stakeholders help to chart this course through interviews, focus groups and surveys. This destination master plan looks at what Minneapolis needs to remain competitive in the meetings, events, and visitor markets for the next 10 years and beyond. These initiatives will help support economic growth, attract visitors and events, create new opportunities for local businesses, and enhance the quality of life for our residents.

Strategic goals and initiatives in the plan include:

• Create a nationally competitive convention center district
• Develop new, and enhance existing, festivals and events year-round
• Establish Minneapolis as a national leader in equity and reconciliation
• Increase downtown vibrancy and expand mixed-use riverfront development
• Expand and diversify lifestyle experiences

Six Big Ideas represent the transformative opportunities to uniquely position Minneapolis as a premier destination:

• Establish Minneapolis as the #1 city for women’s sports
• Enhance Minneapolis’ nightlife scene to be a vibrant, thriving night economy
• Modernize the Minneapolis Convention Center to enhance the competitive advantage and create a signature convention center district
• Improve connections to the central riverfront near the Post Office site and the Upper Lock and Dam
• Embrace Minneapolis as a catalyst of the modern-day civil rights movement
• Develop an iconic event that showcases Minneapolis commitment to social justice

See the full Destination Master Plan here.