2023 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 2023 results were as follows:

2023 Key Event Impact Spotlights

You could see it, and you can feel it when you spent time in Minneapolis in 2023. Our city’s transformation continues. It’s one where the reality of people visiting, experiencing and enjoying Minneapolis could be seen throughout the year. Here are some event spotlights that changed perceptions and had positive impacts on Minneapolis in 2023.

Connect Marketplace

In late August, more than 2,500 people – including nearly 900 meeting and event planners – gathered at the Minneapolis Convention Center for Connect Marketplace, a major convention in the events industry. Attendees learned about Minneapolis as a meetings and events destination, and many planners are now considering the city for a future conference or event. As a result of hosting Connect Marketplace, planners’ interest in hosting a meeting in Minneapolis increased in likelihood from 3.1 to 4.3 on a 5-point scale. We also secured 40 RFPs for future events that will bring significant economic impact for the city.

Mega Events

2023 Key Marketing and Social Media Highlights

Website

In 2023 the Minneapolis.org website received a record breaking number of visits:

• Over 3 million website visits, a 14.3% increase over the number of visits in 2022.
  
• Organic search traffic = 2.3 million, a 12.5% increase over search traffic in 2022.
  

• Over 1,000,000 outbound website clicks, a 15.5% increase over 2022.

Social Media

For the year, through our organic and paid social media strategies, we added:

• New social media followers = 27,800+ (compared to 12,200+ in 2022 and 5,600+ in 2021)
• Generated more than 49.4 million social media impressions (compared to 30.1 million in 2022 and 21.5 million in 2021)

In looking at additional social media numbers for 2023, we generated:

• Engagement: 1.56 million (compared to 1.42+ million in 2022)
• Post Link Clicks: 261,800+ (compared to 211,900+ in 2022)

Leisure Tourism Recovery Marketing

Spring 2023 Campaign: "See What All the FUSS Is About"

In March, Meet Minneapolis launched a major leisure tourism campaign: “See What All the Fuss Is About.” It boldly and confidently told the city’s story to people who used to travel to Minneapolis often – as well as those who were new to the destination – by highlighting the remarkable things that the city has to offer. The “See What All the Fuss Is About” tagline was accompanied by digital, broadcast and print advertising, billboards along highways, a dedicated web presence, and a social media influencer program. The campaign utilized a blend of highly visual and engaging tactics to reach various audiences and turn the dial on their perceptions of Minneapolis. In a survey conducted after the campaign, 70% of the participants who saw the advertising indicated positive sentiment about Minneapolis.

Fall 2023 Campaign: "See What ALL The Fuss Is About"

In September, Meet Minneapolis launched a fall leisure tourism campaign to promote the wide variety of world-class experiences that visitors can have throughout the city by ‘taking it all in’ while sharing itinerary ideas to encourage overnight stays in Minneapolis. The marketing initiative – featuring digital, social and video advertising, and a dedicated web presence – targeted communities that are 15 to 300 miles from Minneapolis. In a post-campaign analysis, 71% of targeted visitors in Duluth, Fargo, La Crosse/Eau Claire, Mankato, Rochester and Sioux Falls indicated they were likely or very likely to recommend Minneapolis as a place to visit.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Access and the Meet Minneapolis Legacy Project

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:

Public Affairs

50 Year Sister City Celebration

The annual Sister Cities Day celebration – featuring an afternoon of entertainment to honor the City of Minneapolis’ international connections – took place on Sunday, July 16 at Nicollet Island Pavilion. Festivities at this free family-friendly event included musicians and performers representing seven of Minneapolis’ 12 sister cities, as well as informational displays and crafts for people of all ages. This year’s celebration was highlighted by the recognition of the 50th anniversary of Minneapolis’ sister city relationships with Winnipeg, Canada, and Kuopio, Finland. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham and Kuopio Chair of the City Board Aleksi Eskelinen were on hand to mark the special occasion.

Cultural Districts Tourism

As part of the Minneapolis 2040 plan to strengthen neighborhoods, the City of Minneapolis identified seven Cultural Districts. The City partnered with Meet Minneapolis to promote the districts to visitors including the launch of the dedicated website in late 2021. In 2023, Meet Minneapolis ran an awareness campaign highlighting the businesses and culture throughout the districts. The campaign delivered 10.6 million impressions with 41,000 clicks.

2023 Key Future Bookings Spotlight

In 2023, the Meet Minneapolis team booked the most future hotel room nights in organizational history. Following are some key future events that were booked in 2023:

• 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Gymnastics
  
• 2024 USA Gymnastics Championships / USA Gymnastics National Congress & Trade Show / USA Gymnastics For All National Championships & Gymfest
• 2024 Herbalife North American Extravaganza
• 2025 American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting
• 2025 American Health Information Management Association Annual Conference
• 2025 National Science Teaching Association Fall Convention
• 2026 Public Library Association National Conference
  
• 2026 National Catholic Education Association Annual Convention & Expo
• 2027 Barbershop Harmony Society International Convention
• 2028 North American Irish Dance Championships
  
• 2028 GALA Choruses Festival
  
• 2028 National Association of Letter Carriers Biennial Convention
  
• 2028 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting & Exposition
  
• 2029 Lions Club International Convention
  

Board Chair Priorities

2024 Key Events

• American Physical Society | 2024 Annual March Meeting | March 3-8
  
• Big Ten Conference | 2024 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament | March 6-10
  
• American Indian Higher Education Consortium | 2024 AIHEC Annual Student Conference | March 9-12
• Big Ten Conference | 2024 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament | March 13-17
  
• Northern Lights Junior Volleyball | 2024 Northern Lights Qualifier | March 22-24
• American Planning Association | 2024 National Planning Conference | April 13-16
• AFL-CIO | 2024 Union Lawyers Alliance Annual Conference | April 29-May 2
• American Clean Power | 2024 CLEANPOWER Conference & Expo | May 6-9
• USA Gymnastics | 2024 USA Gymnastics Championships / USA Gymnastics For All National Championships & Gymfest | June 22-26
  
• USA Gymnastics | 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Gymnastics | June 27-30
  
• GALA Choruses | 2024 Festival | July 10-14
• Herbalife International of America, Inc. | 2024 North American Extravaganza | July 19-21
  
• Jack and Jill of America, Inc. | 2024 National Convention | July 22-27
• United Natural Foods Inc. | 2024 UNFI Conventional/Natural Expo | August 6-7
• Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics | Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo 2024 | October 5-8
• American Public Health Association | 2024 Annual Meeting and Exposition | October 27-30

Future Industry Insights and Trends

Michael Dominguez, President & CEO, Associated Luxury Hotels International

Download the presentation.

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. Since June, a task force of Minneapolis hotel general managers has met with Meet Minneapolis staff on a biweekly basis to determine the parameters of a potential district. The task force has submitted a draft for the City of Minneapolis to review. Once reviewed by city staff, an education and petition drive campaign will begin with hotel owners. A simple majority of hotel owners must approve the petition to bring it forward to the City Council. The group is hopeful to complete this work by mid-year.

Destination Minneapolis: Charting the Future of Minneapolis Tourism

Meet Minneapolis is developing a strategic road map for the future by aligning the public, private and civic sectors around a shared tourism vision. In early 2024, Mayor Frey kicked off this effort with our Meet Minneapolis board to look at what Minneapolis needs to remain competitive in the meetings, events, and visitor markets for the next 10 years and beyond. The focus will be on infrastructure, facilities, services, attractions and events. The process will involve thorough stakeholder and resident engagement through interviews, focus groups and surveys. A final report with recommendations for the destination will be issued in fall 2024.