The Minneapolis hospitality community has gotten a boost with the recent adoption of the long-awaited tourism improvement district (TID). Recently, our City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to authorize the formation of the TID.

Our local lodging community, led by Michael Clark, managing director of the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot, has deftly navigated all the details needed to ensure that collection of the additional destination marketing funding commences this fall.

While we have always been called upon to “punch above our weight” in competing for tourists and convention attendees, we now find ourselves firmly entrenched in a competitive set with highly increased expectations for performance. In the convention market, we most frequently compete against cities such as Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Milwaukee. With increased product offerings, cities such as Cincinnati and St. Louis are emerging quickly.

With the additional resources from the TID, we will have the opportunity to implement numerous new and innovative programs. However, it is the ongoing preparation of team members who manage those programs that will win out in the end. Our team has had two recent opportunities to elevate our experience and perspective that will directly benefit our public and private stakeholders.

The first instance is our participation in Destinations International (DI), the trade association representing destination organizations. DI held its annual convention recently and included a record number of registered destination marketers from around the world. Our team had the opportunity to not only attend the conference but also serve as panelists for some of the educational sessions. We also participated in professional development sessions, including:

• Workforce transformation
• Digital marketing strategies geared to increase meeting and event sales
• The state of the global traveler
• Building authentic and inclusive tourism strategies

All these areas of interest will directly influence our ability to be good stewards of current and future financial resources we are called upon to administer.

A second way we have proactively prepared our staff is through a curated session titled “Future-Focused Leadership: How Destination Marketing Organizations are Evolving.” This two-part session featured:

Panelists:

• Anna Tanski – Former CEO Visit Duluth
• Claude Molinari – CEO, Visit Detroit
• Craig Davis – CEO, Visit Dallas
• Melvin Tennant – CEO, Meet Minneapolis

Moderator:

• Cassandra McCauley – Managing Director, MMGY NextFactor (which helped us develop our new destination master plan)

The first part of the day included metro area destination marketing organization (DMO) staff members, Meet Minneapolis partners and our entire team. Key subjects covered by the panelists included reputation management, the hazards of local politics for DMOs and planning for major destination product development.

The afternoon session was exclusively dedicated to our Meet Minneapolis team. Each of the panelists met in small groups of our team to provide insights into a variety of nuanced subjects like recruiting local support for destination development, major concerns of the leaders, and practical career development tools.

Through these activities, Meet Minneapolis can stay on top of trends and market conditions that impact our partner businesses in both the short and long term. Our industry recovery continues, and we have a duty to do all we can to elevate our presence in the marketplace.