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Light at the End of the Tunnel

This week marks a full year since many companies, including Meet Minneapolis, began working from home. We can all recount the many personal and professional challenges we faced and the adaptations we made over the past year. And this is also the week where we are seeing new signs of our industry’s recovery. The graphic below summarizes the dial forward details that Governor Walz announced last week.

Based on the new guidance, our hotels and other venues will be able to host larger weddings, bars and restaurants can welcome more patrons, and the Minnesota Twins will have 10,000 fans at Target Field for their home opener. What a difference a year makes.

On the national scene, the U.S. Travel Association led the charge to provide relief for our industry. The most impactful data point from U.S. Travel is that 4 in 10 jobs lost during the downturn were hospitality industry jobs.

This staggering blow was the impetus for the industry’s support for the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 that President Biden signed into law last week. Some of the key elements of the act include:

  • Employee Retention Tax Credits
  • Shuttered Venue Operator Grants
  • Funding for Airports and Concessionaires
  • State and Local Government Funding (that can expressly be used for tourism recovery initiatives)

Minnesota’s senior U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D) has been a staunch supporter of tourism recovery since she first took office in 2007 and was a driving force behind the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. She is a member of the Senate Commerce Committee and co-chairs the Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus with Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO). Additionally, Senators Klobuchar and Blunt have introduced the Protecting Tourism in the United States Act. According to a news release from Senator Klobuchar’s office, “From Lake Superior to the Mall of America, Minnesota is home to exceptional tourist destinations. As the coronavirus pandemic has limited travel, the tourism industry has been hit particularly hard. This bipartisan legislation will help the travel and tourism industry recover and support local economies throughout Minnesota and across the country.” We will continue to follow and support these efforts.

National industry advocates like the U.S. Travel Association and Senators Klobuchar and Blunt give us strong hope that the light in the tunnel is the bright daylight of an industry with renewed strength and vitality.