Our last explosion of lodging development occurred between 2006 and 2008, coinciding with the wave of cultural institution development including the Walker, the Guthrie, the Central Library and the Children’s Theatre. In 2008, the community also hosted the Republican National Convention's 50,000 attendees and benefited from the $170 million economic impact it generated, according to a University of St. Thomas post-event study. Unfortunately, that growth spurt was stunted by an economic downtown that lasted for more than two years.

But times have changed and things are booming again. Now, many of my friends, co-workers and colleagues continue to inquire about the need for a large hotel near the convention center. There are certainly potential benefits, but we have to be sure to ask ourselves how the impact on existing hotels can be mitigated when a large number of new rooms enter the local market. John Luke, our recently departed (to the Hilton Orlando) board Vice Chair suggests that the Hilton Minneapolis is already the "headquarters" hotel for our community.

There is empirical data to show that many of the cities against which we compete on a regular basis have more total rooms within a half mile radius of their convention centers than we have. The concentration of hotel rooms within a very close proximity of a convention center is the gold standard measurement for many meeting and event professionals who plan large gatherings requiring multiple hotels.

I raise this sensitive and controversial issue again because Meet Minneapolis serves as the navigator and scout for our local industry and we don’t want to be caught unprepared at some point in the future when we have maximized our growth. But the hotel question is only one of many questions we should ponder to stay on an upward hospitality/tourism growth trajectory.

We will undoubtedly continue to see incremental growth in our various hospitality industry metrics. Aggressive plans on the table such as the Minneapolis Downtown Council's 2025 plan and the Met Council's ThriveMSP 2040 Plan also have a positive impact on our industry.

Major projects such as U.S. Bank Stadium (really has a nice ring to it) construction, Ryan's Wells Fargo-anchored development, Nicollet Mall's transformation into Nicollet, and Metro Transit's major infrastructure development all enhance our attractiveness as a destination. Plans to program the Downtown East Commons and other downtown open spaces including the Minneapolis Convention Center plaza are all beneficial to our efforts to be the Destination of Choice.

We are not lacking in projects that are underway. Many communities never see the level of activity we have seen in a short period of time, even when those communities conceive and execute well thought out plans.

But as a hospitality/tourism industry that contributes significantly to our overall economic health through employment, tax generation and visitor spending, we should intentionally identify specific areas of development that will leverage our growth and position us for when the next downturn occurs. We should ask ourselves question such as:

How can we maximize the investment the City of Minneapolis has made in its largest tourism asset, the Minneapolis Convention Center?

How can the more than two dozen metro wide destination marketing organizations be better partners as we all share in the benefits of events and developments that extend beyond the Minneapolis city limits?

Should we consider additional public/private partnerships in hospitality/tourism development that have benefits that outweigh any initial public investments?

Are the multiple organizations that are working hard on projects that benefit the hospitality/tourism industry sharing enough information, leveraging their own strengths and partnering with entities that have other complementary strengths?

With the successes we have had and will continue to have as a community, we might be tempted to leave well enough alone. But as one who has seen numerous economic ups and downs, undisciplined growth, and the development of projects that seem great at the time but soon are rendered obsolete, I would argue that a hospitality/tourism growth plan that involves willing and able public and private stakeholders should be a priority.

So in the coming weeks and months, Meet Minneapolis will be doing a lot of listening to stakeholders as well as a lot of advocating for the development of a Tourism Master Plan. I will collaborate with our Market Research Director, Kevin Hanstad, to provide an overview in future editions of the Minute as we work to better coordinate the great conversations that are already taking place in the community.

Our last explosion of lodging development occurred between 2006 and 2008, coinciding with the wave of cultural institution development including the Walker, the Guthrie, the Central Library and the Children’s Theatre. In 2008, the community also hosted the Republican National Convention's 50,000 attendees and benefited from the $170 million economic impact it generated, according to a University of St. Thomas post-event study. Unfortunately, that growth spurt was stunted by an economic downtown that lasted for more than two years.

But times have changed and things are booming again. Now, many of my friends, co-workers and colleagues continue to inquire about the need for a large hotel near the convention center. There are certainly potential benefits, but we have to be sure to ask ourselves how the impact on existing hotels can be mitigated when a large number of new rooms enter the local market. John Luke, our recently departed (to the Hilton Orlando) board Vice Chair suggests that the Hilton Minneapolis is already the "headquarters" hotel for our community.

There is empirical data to show that many of the cities against which we compete on a regular basis have more total rooms within a half mile radius of their convention centers than we have. The concentration of hotel rooms within a very close proximity of a convention center is the gold standard measurement for many meeting and event professionals who plan large gatherings requiring multiple hotels.

I raise this sensitive and controversial issue again because Meet Minneapolis serves as the navigator and scout for our local industry and we don’t want to be caught unprepared at some point in the future when we have maximized our growth. But the hotel question is only one of many questions we should ponder to stay on an upward hospitality/tourism growth trajectory.

We will undoubtedly continue to see incremental growth in our various hospitality industry metrics. Aggressive plans on the table such as the Minneapolis Downtown Council's 2025 plan and the Met Council's ThriveMSP 2040 Plan also have a positive impact on our industry.

Major projects such as U.S. Bank Stadium (really has a nice ring to it) construction, Ryan's Wells Fargo-anchored development, Nicollet Mall's transformation into Nicollet, and Metro Transit's major infrastructure development all enhance our attractiveness as a destination. Plans to program the Downtown East Commons and other downtown open spaces including the Minneapolis Convention Center plaza are all beneficial to our efforts to be the Destination of Choice.

We are not lacking in projects that are underway. Many communities never see the level of activity we have seen in a short period of time, even when those communities conceive and execute well thought out plans.

But as a hospitality/tourism industry that contributes significantly to our overall economic health through employment, tax generation and visitor spending, we should intentionally identify specific areas of development that will leverage our growth and position us for when the next downturn occurs. We should ask ourselves question such as:

How can we maximize the investment the City of Minneapolis has made in its largest tourism asset, the Minneapolis Convention Center?

How can the more than two dozen metro wide destination marketing organizations be better partners as we all share in the benefits of events and developments that extend beyond the Minneapolis city limits?

Should we consider additional public/private partnerships in hospitality/tourism development that have benefits that outweigh any initial public investments?

Are the multiple organizations that are working hard on projects that benefit the hospitality/tourism industry sharing enough information, leveraging their own strengths and partnering with entities that have other complementary strengths?

With the successes we have had and will continue to have as a community, we might be tempted to leave well enough alone. But as one who has seen numerous economic ups and downs, undisciplined growth, and the development of projects that seem great at the time but soon are rendered obsolete, I would argue that a hospitality/tourism growth plan that involves willing and able public and private stakeholders should be a priority.

So in the coming weeks and months, Meet Minneapolis will be doing a lot of listening to stakeholders as well as a lot of advocating for the development of a Tourism Master Plan. I will collaborate with our Market Research Director, Kevin Hanstad, to provide an overview in future editions of the Minute as we work to better coordinate the great conversations that are already taking place in the community.