Meet Minneapolis study shows visitor counts, spending increased over prior year

(MINNEAPOLIS) May 24, 2012 Meet Minneapolis, Convention and Visitors Association, announced today that a study conducted by D.K. Shifflet & Associates, Ltd., shows that both visitors and visitor spending increased in 2011. Minneapolis Saint Paul saw 26.8 million visitors in 2011, an increase of 6.1 percent over 2010s 25.3 million convention and leisure travel visitors.

Those visitors spent $6.524 billion in the area, an increase of 10.2 percent over 2010, when spending was $5.919 billion. Leisure visitors only increased 6.1 percent to 19.5 million in 2011 from 18.4 million in 2010 with spending increasing to $4.483 billion, or 11.4 percent over $4.024 billion spent in 2010.

Minneapolis is a destination on the move, said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO, Meet Minneapolis. The efforts to make the city clean, eco-focused and welcoming to visitors by providing an excellent mix of entertainment, sports, music, outdoor activities and more are clearly making a difference and visitors are coming to see for themselves. Additionally, the work of Meet Minneapolis to attract convention business for the city has been steadily gaining traction and our new visitor counts prove that people want to come to this city.

Nationally, Minneapolis 26.8 million visitors put the city just behind Chicago (42.39 million), and Dallas was nearly tied at 26.88 million. Visitor counts lower than Minneapolis were Saint Louis (21.46 million), Indianapolis (18 million), Kansas City (16.5 million), Washington, D.C. (15.54 million) and Denver (12.7 million). These cities data have been made available publically, may not be comparing the same criteria and were not part of the study commissioned by Meet Minneapolis.

The data was collected for 2010 and 2011 in a continuous tracking study. Meet Minneapolis will be updating the visitor demographic profile for the area once final information is received this summer.

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.

Online: www.minneapolis.org

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meetminneapolis?ref=ts

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

MEDIA CONTACT

Kristen Montag, media & communication manager, 612.767.8038, kristenm@minneapolis.org, Minneapolis_PR on Twitter

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