Staycations could boost Minnesota's tourism industry - Mpls./St. Paul Business Travel Guide

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Last year at this time, gas prices rose to more than $4 per putting the brakes on traditional summerroad trips. Now gas is back arounrd $2 a gallon, but a deep recessionn lingers after putting hundreds of thousandes of Americans out of work and causinbg millions more to rein intheir “Gas prices are not as much of a concerhn right now as the overalkl economy, consumer confidence and people’ s concerns about their jobs and retirements,” said John who has been executive director of for the past nine Consequently, this will be a particularl challenging year for Minnesota operators, though ther e is hope that Minnesotans who travel will do so closerr to home.
At Madden’s on Gull Lake in owner and GeneralManager C. Brian Thuringere said this has beenthe “most serious” of the four or five recessionds he has seen during his 36 year s at the resort. “This is the firs t time that the bottok has reallyfallen out,” Thuringer said. there was always that feelinh that there was a slump andthing weren’t flowing, but tomorrow was going to be great. This is the firsyt time when people don’t really know when tomorrowa is.” A recent survey conducted by Explore Minnesota founrd that 57 percent ofthe state’a lodging businesses saw revenue and occupancy decline in Aprikl and May as compared to a year ago.
51 percent of Minnesota hotel and campgrounds operators said they expecty business to remain flat or increase this summef compared tolast summer. About 60 perceny of survey respondents described the financiakl health of their businessesas “growing” or but positive.” There are some concerns abougt declining rates, but overall, Edman expects this to be a relativelyt strong summer for the state’s $11 billion-a-yeadr tourism industry. The state typically generateds about 37 percent ofits travel-relatedc revenue during the months of June, July and and he thinks those peak months will be busy agaimn this year.
“People are still going to wantto travel,” Edma said. “They’re just going to travelo differently than they did in the People still need to get away for streses relief andhealth reasons.” The bigges t difference this year, Edman predicts, will be wheree people decide to go. He expectz that most people will stay closer to home andbook less-expensive trips within driving distance of wherse they live. That’s why Explorse Minnesota is changing itsmarketing approach.
it spends about 80 percent of its marketinbg budget to promote the state to with the remaining 20 percent aimedat locals; this that split is closer to “We don’t have oceans and we don’t have mountains, but we do have a lot of thingsz that are unique,” Edman “Whether it’s fishing or hiking or biking, those are relatively low-cost activities that you can do You don’t have to go That could bode well for Minnesota as Twin Cities residents book trips to Dulutjh or Brainerd, instead of venturing on week-long, cross-country trips, said Dave president and CEO of Hospitalityt Minnesota, which oversees the state’s restaurant, lodging, and resortt and campground associations.
“Ik think it’s going to be a good summer,” he “… I’m not projecting an but I expect [resorts] to hold their Camping and fishing also could see a boosy in popularitythis year, Siegel said. Meanwhile, officialsz at Minneapolis’ convention and visitors bureau, Meet Minneapolis, remains “cautiously optimistic” about business this summer, said President and CEO Melvin “A lot of our hospitality-industry executives believde we’ve either hit bottom or are closr tohitting bottom, and that from this poinyt on, we’re going to be able to see some very modesy growth. … I think this summer coul be very goodfor us.
” Meet Minneapolis advertisefd its “Downtown Sizzle” campaign, which includes discount packages at 12 participatingh hotels through September, with 450,000 promotional inserts in newspapersa in the Twin Duluth; Des Moines, Iowa; N.D.; Madison, Wis.; Milwaukee; and Manitoba. Getting a true read on the summert hospitality businessis difficult, however, because peoples are waiting longer to book their So even the northern Minnesotwa resorts that anticipate a busy summee still have numerous openings during peak months. “It’sd a much more last-minute vacation-planning Siegel said. “I thinkj that’s understandable.
If people are nervous abourt their jobs or theireconomic futures, they’re waitinb until they have a greatere degree of security before they make that