Minneapolis (Feb. 25, 2020) – Today, guided by the theme “Connecting the Industry,” Meet Minneapolis held its 2020 Annual Meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The city’s convention and visitors’ bureau noted successes in 2019 and presented an insider’s look at the future of meetings, events and tourism in Minneapolis from the perspectives of meeting planners, sports events rights holders and leisure travelers. In addition, Meet Minneapolis announced the newest members of its Board of Directors and recognized several individuals and organizations with special awards.

In 2019, Meet Minneapolis exceeded its key performance indicators in hotel room nights, convention center revenue, and private revenue. The organization brought more than 700 events to the Minneapolis region, and helped support more than 37,000 tourism and hospitality workers.

Meet Minneapolis Key Performance Indicators for 2019*

• Group Room Nights: 556,700 nights (104% of the goal set for 2019)
• Minneapolis Convention Center Revenue: $21.1 million (103%)
• Private Revenue: $2.9 million (110%)

“We take great pride in promoting and selling Minneapolis as the destination of choice for meeting planners and their attendees, sports events rights holders and leisure travelers,” stated Meet Minneapolis President and CEO Melvin Tennant. “Tourism plays a critical role in the economic success of Minneapolis, and our goal is to continue to support our local businesses, neighborhoods and workers while also showing off our city’s assets and amenities.”

Minneapolis Convention Center
One of the roles of Meet Minneapolis is to attract events to the Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC). Last year, the MCC:

• Hosted nearly 350 conferences, meetings and events
• Generated $21.1 million in revenue
• Helped to support more than 8,000 jobs in the community
• Was honored with a pair of awards from Exhibitor Media Group which recognized North America’s best convention centers for trade show and events. The MCC earned a Centers of Excellence Award and a Best Customer Service & On-Site Support Award.

“With hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, the Minneapolis Convention Center is a significant economic engine for the tourism and hospitality industry in the city and region,” said Minneapolis Convention Center Executive Director Jeff Johnson. “As we embark on our 30th anniversary of serving as Minneapolis’ meeting place, we’re proud of the role we play in welcoming visitors to our city and creating and supporting jobs in Minneapolis.”

Sports Minneapolis
Sports Minneapolis highlighted its major role in bringing key sports events to the region such as last year’s NCAA Men’s Final Four, CONCACAF Gold Cup matches, ESPN’s X Games and the USA Taekwondo National Championships.

Seventy-seven (77) future sporting events were secured by Sports Minneapolis in 2019, including the 2020 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials, the 2021 NHL Winter Classic and the 2022 Gay Softball World Series.

Additional Highlights

• Nearly 42,000 visitors from 59 countries and all 50 states stopped into the Meet Minneapolis Visitor Center, located in the Centerpoint Energy building at 5th and Nicollet.
• More than 2 million people visited the Meet Minneapolis website (www.minneapolis.org) in 2019, to learn more on where to visit, eat, drink, shop and be entertained, resulting in 4.5 million page views and over 719,000 outbound clicks to partner websites.
• Six (6) new neighborhood guides (for a total of 18) were added to www.minneapolis.org, introducing visitors to the unique areas of the city like West Broadway, the North Loop and Kingfield.
• Meet Minneapolis social media channels had nearly 6.9 million total impressions in 2019.
• In partnership with Great Streets and the West Broadway Business Association, Lake Street Council and West Bank Meet Minneapolis audited more than 3,000 businesses that are located within those boundaries and over 600 partner businesses, to see where our small businesses need help showcasing their offerings.

Board of Directors

• Six new members were welcomed to the Meet Minneapolis Board of Directors: Lester Bagley (Minnesota Vikings), Amol Dixit (Hot Indian Foods), Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou (Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO), Andrea Mokros (Weber Shandwick), Mark Nerenhausen (Hennepin Theatre Trust), Jennifer Ridgeway (Minnesota Timberwolves & Lynx)
• A ceremonial passing of the gavel took place as Julie Batliner (Carmichael Lynch) became the new Chair, replacing Mark Andrew (Greenmark Enterprises).

Awards and Recognition

• Lifetime Achievement Award: Tricia Johnson, Brede Exposition Services
• Innovation in Tourism Award: Peavey Plaza for the renovation and redesign which restored the area to create a lively gathering space in the heart of downtown Minneapolis
• President’s Award: First Avenue for drawing musical artists and visitors from around the world to the city’s iconic landmark for 50 years
• Excellence in Meetings, Events & Conventions Award: Target, which has held more than 500 meetings and events at the Minneapolis Convention Center since 2000

To access the 2019 Meet Minneapolis Annual Report, please go here. To learn more about how tourism and hospitality impact, our community, watch here.

* Unaudited. Key performance indicators will be verified by an independent auditor.

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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 to the greater Minneapolis area.

Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of Destinations International.

CONNECT WITH US
Online: www.minneapolis.org
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/meetminneapolis
On Twitter: www.twitter.com/meetminneapolis
On Instagram: www.instagram.com/meetminneapolis
Watch: Here, “Minne” is an Understatement

MEDIA CONTACT
Kevin Kurtt, Meet Minneapolis Public Relations Manager, 612-767-8118 KevinK@minneapolis.org
Kathy McCarthy, Meet Minneapolis Public Relations Director, 612-767-8048, KathyM@minneapolis.org
Or email MeetMinneapolisPR@Minneapolis.org