Happy New Year! I hope you and your families had a restful and peaceful holiday season.

We are well on our way to a complete industry recovery, and there are clear and strong reasons to be optimistic. Because the world has changed, our success will look different moving forward. Our sales and marketing teams continue to adapt their strategies to encourage more meetings, conventions and leisure travel, which can help offset the very slow return of individual business travel.

Those shifts in strategies and reasons for optimism were recently captured in this Minneapolis – St. Paul Business Journal article.

• First, the article noted the full array of public shows that will take place at the Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC). Although driving largely day trips, the value of these public shows helps us to reassure our metro area neighbors – and visitors from greater Minnesota – that downtown Minneapolis is open for business and ready to welcome them. An additional benefit of hosting these public shows is the commerce they promote as industries like recreation, home improvement and auto bring their buyers and sellers together for economic impact. Of note is that the Twin Cities Auto Show is returning to the MCC after a short stint at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
• Among the major room night producing events for 2023 will be the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships with an estimated attendance of 28,000 and the Elks National Convention with an estimated attendance of 8,000.
• We will also host the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament for the first time, in March, at Target Center, with an estimated attendance of 17,000. This event is a precursor for our hosting both men’s and women’s Big Ten basketball tournaments in 2024 at Target Center.

Our community achieved a big win early in the new year as CNN Travel named Minneapolis as a must-see destination in its recent piece, “Where to travel in 2023: The best destinations to visit.”

• Minneapolis and Charleston (hometown of longtime Meet Minneapolis team member Kay Russell) were the only North American destinations highlighted in the list of 23 destinations worldwide.
• CNN embraced our community’s character, its people, and cultural assets to reveal who we are and not just what we have to promote.
• This approach is intentional as we work across multiple platforms to introduce – or in some cases reintroduce – our destination to visitors and group event decision-makers in a much more personal and authentic manner.

As we embark on a new year, I invite you to attend our Meet Minneapolis Annual Meeting. The event will take place at the MCC on Thursday, February 23; doors open at 11:30 a.m. and the lunchtime program begins at 12 noon. We will look back at 2022 and look ahead to how we will continue to Make Waves. Create Change. In Minneapolis. Please go here or click on the invitation below to register.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support as we work together to restore our industry.