Meet Minneapolis announces first-ever tourism master plan, Destination Transformation 2030

MINNEAPOLIS (March 2, 2017) – Meet Minneapolis, Convention and Visitors Association, presented Minneapolis’ first-ever tourism master plan, Destination Transformation 2030, at its March 2, 2017, annual meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

The destination management organization is seizing the opportunities provided by the major events coming to the city over the next few years to strive towards longer-term gains in tourism.

Destination Transformation 2030 is a comprehensive tourism plan for Minneapolis, providing goals for where the destination will be in the year 2030, including:

• Attract 50 million visitors to the metro area annually; in 2015, there were 32 million visitors
• Increase winter visitation to 11 million travelers, whereas there are 6 million today
• Support 40,000 hospitality jobs; currently, there are 32,500
• Develop a $10 million annual awareness-building marketing campaign for the metro area

“We want to celebrate and enhance the very best of our city and everything it offers. And we want the world to know about it,” said Mayor Betsy Hodges, co-chair of Destination Transformation 2030. “The objectives outlined in this plan will help us achieve those goals.”

Over the past year, Meet Minneapolis gathered input from 3,000 people, including tourists, travel writers, meeting planners, local stakeholders, residents and industry experts. Six subcommittees worked to develop the plan. The plan identifies eight initiatives for 2030:

• Attract 50 million visitors to the metro area annually by 2030
• Launch a metro-wide branding and marketing campaign
• Build an iconic visitors center on downtown’s central riverfront
• Implement a unified transportation, wayfinding and information program for Minneapolis
• Adopt a comprehensive place-making plan to drive Minneapolis tourism priorities and investments
• Accentuate winter as a novel tourism adventure
• Grow and emphasize hospitality jobs as important to social equity and the metro economy
• Identify and secure ongoing resources to implement the tourism master plan

More details on each initiative are available at www.Minneapolis.org/DT2030, the comprehensive look at Destination Transformation 2030.

“Rather than coming up with one ‘monumental’ tourism attraction or idea, our subcommittees recommended using the advantages we already enjoy in Minneapolis while also addressing the deficits, such as lack of awareness and poor wayfinding,” said Bob Lux, Alatus LLC; chair, Meet Minneapolis Board of Directors; and co-chair of Destination Transformation 2030 committee. “Our goals are ambitious but with this plan as a roadmap, we can get there.”

Going forward, the Meet Minneapolis Board of Directors will engage three subcommittees who will lead tactical efforts. Along with directors from the board, subcommittee members will include a number of leaders from a variety of business, culture, government, nonprofit and sports entities, and other invested community residents.

“We cannot thank Mayor Hodges, Bob Lux, our third co-chair David Berg (formerly of Carlson) and the community members who contributed to this effort enough,” said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO, Meet Minneapolis. “Meet Minneapolis is proud and excited for the future of the destination and where this plan will take us.”

ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS

Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to maximize the economic benefit of the greater Minneapolis area.

Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of the Destination Marketing Association International.

Online: www.minneapolis.org and http://go.minneapolis.org

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On Twitter: http://twitter.com/meetminneapolis

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MEDIA CONTACT

Kristen Montag, Meet Minneapolis senior communications and public relations manager, 651-335-5754 cell, kristenm@minneapolis.org