There's no denying that Taylor Swift's Eras tour has provided a substantial economic boost to cities where she has performed. According to research conducted by Question Pro, the tour is estimated to have generated nearly $5 billion in consumer spending in the United States alone. This past summer, Taylor Swift brought her Eras tour to Minneapolis, delivering two sold-out performances at US Bank Stadium. Our guests today have firsthand knowledge of the profound impact the Eras tour had on Minneapolis' economy. Courtney Ries, Senior Vice President of Destination Branding and Strategy for Meet Minneapolis, and Christy Loy, General Manager for the Canopy by Hilton hotel Minneapolis Mill District, shed light on the significant contribution made by the Eras tour to the economic landscape of Minneapolis.
Meet Minneapolis
Canopy by Hilton Hotel Minneapolis Mill District
Experience Rochester, MN
There's no denying that Taylor Swift's Eras tour has provided a substantial economic boost to cities where she has performed. According to research conducted by Question Pro, the tour is estimated to have generated nearly $5 billion in consumer spending in the United States alone. This past summer, Taylor Swift brought her Eras tour to Minneapolis, delivering two sold-out performances at US Bank Stadium. Our guests today have firsthand knowledge of the profound impact the Eras tour had on Minneapolis' economy. Courtney Ries, Senior Vice President of Destination Branding and Strategy for Meet Minneapolis, and Christy Loy, General Manager for the Canopy by Hilton hotel Minneapolis Mill District, shed light on the significant contribution made by the Eras tour to the economic landscape of Minneapolis.
Meet Minneapolis
Canopy by Hilton Hotel Minneapolis Mill District
Experience Rochester, MN
The Growing Destinations podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Learn more about Minnesota's third largest city, which is home to Mayo Clinic and features wonderful recreational and entertainment opportunities, by visiting experiencerochestermncom.
Speaker 2:We know that Friday and Saturday night we sold more hotel rooms than we ever have in the city of Minneapolis, and so people come back and say, well, what about the Super Bowl? Super Bowl weekend we have about 15% more hotel rooms now in the city than we did in 2018. So getting that 96% occupancy was really remarkable for us.
Speaker 3:I remember receiving an email from one of our talent members who works overnight and she told me that this was the most excited she had been to welcome guests in the last three years because she could feel the energy not only in the city but in the hotel. And it was really touching to receive a personal note like that. Because we work hard to make a great experience and, being the closest hotel to US Bank Stadium, it makes sense that guests would come through there and would experience that, but it's just as energizing for the people who work in hospitality to be able to bring that to life.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast, where we take a deep dive into destination development and focus on a wide range of topics, from tourism and entertainment to economic development and entrepreneurism, and much more. I'm your host, bill Vaughn-Bank. Time Magazine named Taylor Swift its 2023 person of the year. No surprise, as she took the world by storm with her mega-arist tour, which included a noteworthy stop in Minneapolis. Today, I'm joined by Courtney Reese, senior Vice President of Destination Branding and Strategy for Meet Minneapolis, and Christy Loy, general Manager for the Canopy by Hilton Minneapolis Mill District. Together, they will delve into the profound impact the Ares tour had on Minneapolis' economy. Courtney Reese, christy Loy welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:There's no denying that Taylor Swift's Ares tour has provided a substantial economic boost to cities where she has performed. This past summer, Taylor continued her love story with Minneapolis no bad blood there and brought her Ares tour to the city, delivering two sold-out performances at US Bank Stadium. Courtney and Christy, you both know all too well the impact that Ares tour had on Minneapolis and the Twin Cities economy. So let's look back at that event-filled weekend from this past June. Are you ready for it?
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Two sold-out shows Courtney at US Bank Stadium. I mean, that's a lot of people right there.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. When we have most of our highest occupancy nights and we look back over the course of the entire year, a majority of them occurred when there was a concert at US Bank Stadium. When you can get 60,000 plus people into a space, it brings a lot of energy into the city and with Taylor Swift in particular, we had so many things that were going on that weekend. All those events really made it a weekend to remember.
Speaker 1:And Christy. The Canopy by Hilton Minneapolis Mill District Hotel is just a short walk to US Bank Stadium and I understand you brought the Taylor Swift experience into your hotel.
Speaker 3:It was such an amazing opportunity to really help the guests that were coming for Taylor Swift like truly experience all of Swifty Nation and what that meant being in Minneapolis. So not only did we have Welcome Cocktail, not only did we have song lyrics posted on all of our art throughout the hotel, we had a friendship bracelet making station. We just had every opportunity where really those Taylor Swift fans could come together and get ready for their concert experience, including quite a fashion show in the lobby.
Speaker 1:I will say so you knew your audience.
Speaker 3:It was 100% dedicated to the purpose of that weekend.
Speaker 1:The Swifties were there Enforce. It was amazing, Courtney. How big of a boost was this for Minneapolis and the Twin Cities.
Speaker 2:We know that Friday and Saturday night we sold more hotel rooms than we ever have in the city of Minneapolis. So people come back and say, well, what about the Super Bowl? Super Bowl weekend we have about 15% more hotel rooms now in the city than we did in 2018. So getting that 96% occupancy was really remarkable for us, and the first night, friday night, tied the highest occupancy that we had for the entire year.
Speaker 1:So we talk about the impact to hotels, which was significant. A concert goer does more into the economy than just stay in a hotel and buy a ticket.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so for us. That weekend we actually had, in addition to Taylor Swift, we had our Pride weekend, which is one of the largest Pride festivals in the country. It's the biggest event that we have every year. And then we also had a group down at the Minneapolis Convention Center in the Qantas. So the confluence of all of those things and everybody knew that Taylor Swift was her own marketing machine. So there were drag brunches, singing Taylor Swift songs, there were pop-up bars, there were custom drinks, there were friendship making stations, like Christie talked about. So all of those things added to our economy and obviously people were looking to buy merchandise or they were looking for that perfect accessory or all of those sorts of things. So it's not just Minneapolis too. People definitely made sure to go down to Mall of America and spend some quality time there or go over on to St Paul. So really wonderful for the entire region.
Speaker 1:Christie, I'm curious about your team members at the hotel in terms of when they know something big like this is coming to town, do they get excited for it?
Speaker 3:I remember receiving an email from one of our talent members who works overnight and she told me that this was the most excited she had been to welcome guests in the last three years because she could feel the energy not only in the city but in the hotel. And it was really touching to receive a personal note like that. Because we work hard to make a great experience and, being the closest hotel to US Bank Stadium, it makes sense that guests would come through there and would experience that, but it's just as energizing for the people who work in hospitality to be able to bring that to life.
Speaker 1:Jared Ranere as big as Super Bowl in Final Four. I believe I've been hearing coming out of the headlines from that weekend.
Speaker 2:We don't have a direct estimate economic study and obviously Super Bowl is really 10 days of events versus two days of events. But certainly when you look at the visitor profile and you walk around town it had so much of that wonderful energy and you saw people who are obviously in town for the concert from everywhere.
Speaker 1:And Christie in terms of other revenue streams that you can attribute to the concert. Can you share some of that?
Speaker 3:In a hotel. It's everything from parking to our food and beverage sales. We tripled our peak night for food and beverage sales. Both evenings of the concert and even the day before the first concert we were sold out, and the night after the second concert because people were coming to experience the city and it was often easier to fly in a little early or fly out a little later. I met Dylan from Indianapolis, who actually was interviewed on the news with me, 13 year old, who had come up with his father, and they were staying for the full four days even though they were only attending one of the concert nights.
Speaker 1:And that's a great point is that the visitation Courtney wasn't just locals.
Speaker 2:We know, with the hyper competitive nature of getting tickets for such an in-demand event, that there were a lot of people that just said how can I get to wherever I can get tickets? And us being blessed with MSP and having so much domestic and international flight lift, we were able to see people truly from all over the world that said, oh, I know that airport, I have that nonstop connection, I'm going to go to Minneapolis and that's where I'm going to go see her.
Speaker 1:Such a great benefit to have such a renowned airport so close.
Speaker 2:Without a doubt.
Speaker 1:Kristi, in terms of concierge services and helping your guests learn more about the city or the Twin Cities. Were there some specific questions that you would get over and over, or how did you help your guests navigate?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we put together a list of what would Taylor do in Minneapolis. So we had everything from walking the Stone Arch Bridge and taking that amazing picture looking back at the skyline of the city, visiting the sculpture garden, favorite restaurants that are close, by doing a little shopping in the North Loop, certainly a trip to Mall of America, because who would miss that wonderful shopping destination while here in Minneapolis? So we tried to approach it from the perspective of tying it into the concert experience as well.
Speaker 1:That's so great. You mentioned Mall of America. I recently interviewed Bonnie Carlson from the Bloomington Convention and Visitors' Bureau and she was talking about the Taylor Swift effect in Bloomington and how Mall of America really leaned in to create an experience around that as well. So it really engulfed not just Minneapolis but really the state of Minnesota.
Speaker 2:Without a doubt, in addition to all of the positive, proactive things that we were able to do to try to have people say, all right, I've got the concert time blocked off, but what else do I do in Minneapolis? So we had information on social media across all of our platforms about that. There's a lot of logistics, too when it comes to such a large event and so many people coming into town. So we actually worked with the city of Minneapolis and a number of the transportation partners to be part of a large press event that happened to just kind of remind people here's how you get in and out of downtown. Here are all the things going on. Let's not all try to call for an Uber at midnight or else it might not be a great experience. And thankfully, some of that messaging was able to make it into the hands of people that were going to those shows. So we didn't have some of the problems that we know that other destinations had with those queues or not having a great experience when the show was over.
Speaker 1:Kristi, being so close to US Bank Stadium, what was the energy like around your hotel?
Speaker 3:I can't really describe what it's like to watch some of these concert goers who, for many, was their first concert. For most was certainly their most looked forward to concert of the entire year. We had locals coming into the hotel just to watch the fashions that were headed over to the concert, because people were dressed to the nines more sparkle and glitter than I have seen in any New Year's Eve celebration. But it was heartwarming because this was an experience. This is what memories are made of. These are the reasons that we travel and the reasons we want to connect, and it was so special to watch groups of friends, families, couples really taking this time to be together.
Speaker 1:Such a great time to have a concert like this post pandemic, when people are really just starting or maybe taking baby steps, to say, okay, I need to get back on, I need to have experiences, and this was pretty big.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you need something really big to get you off the couch, and Taylor Swift definitely provided that. We had some massive concerts this year with Ed Sheeran and Beyonce and Taylor Swift and a number of country concerts, and all those were opportunities for people who might not have been to Minneapolis in a while and gave them a reason to come. There's so much joy that comes with concerts, and with Taylor Swift in particular. If you think about it, it's a much more blended crowd, a lot more youth than you see at a number of these other really large scale concerts, so with it comes just an energy that is really infectious and joyful.
Speaker 1:An extra travel partner or two.
Speaker 2:All of that as well.
Speaker 1:How do you capitalize on something like this from a tourism perspective?
Speaker 3:I'd love to share just meeting a family that actually visited us from Nashville because their concert was rained out in Nashville. They got tickets for Minneapolis last minute and came for four days. They were delighted with the city and couldn't wait to go back and really tell people about the restaurants they experienced while they were here, the amazing walkability, the parks, the river, just the beauty that we know Minneapolis has at every corner. And I think leveraging that on the tourism front is really not only the people who experienced it, but knowing that we can easily handle concerts of that magnitude and events of that magnitude and be able to invite those to our city more regularly with great confidence, because it was such a spectacular weekend.
Speaker 2:Having a wonderful trip makes you want to come back and it also makes you more likely if you're in a conversation with somebody that says Minneapolis like how was Minneapolis, or why did you go to Minneapolis. Someone that says I had an amazing time, it was incredible city, it was very clean, I was very safe and I got to have all this fantastic find, dining experience, walk along the river and, of course, a tremendous concert in a gorgeous, gorgeous venue. All of those things that word of mouth continues and helps us in the future.
Speaker 1:Also the halo effect, where they could potentially become residents.
Speaker 2:We always say that job relocation, or any relocation general, always starts with a visit.
Speaker 1:Are there plans to capitalize on this success for future tourism initiatives?
Speaker 2:We know that we have a very robust calendar of events that is coming into 2024. So we have, on the sporting event side, the Big Ten Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments. We have the US Olympic Team Trials for gymnastics. Those are events that pull people from around the country, in some cases around the world, to participate in. So, taking those sporting events, plus some big name concerts like Def Leppard, green Day, chris Stapleton, morgan Wall and Metallica we know that that influx of people continue to provide them both the excitement and those on the ground opportunities, like Christie did in her property, are really important to making those people feel welcomed. And then we really focused to you on how can we give people the information of the other things to do around that marquee event.
Speaker 1:What are some learnings you both can share from this experience?
Speaker 3:Not only did we have amazing economic impact, but we also saw fantastic guest experience scores. So we really saw that that synergy around creating an experience related to the event and providing people those chances to connect with one another as they're preparing to attend an event is the win-win. So we have that learning and have continued to employ that sort of same strategy. We did so with Ed Sheeran, had an amazing Lego display and some other fun activations around that concert and have much more planned for 2024. At Canopy by Hilton in the Mill District.
Speaker 2:For us. It's just a reminder that those mega events are mega events for a reason, and sometimes you're just never going to convince somebody that they need to visit for what they feel like they can do every day of the week, and it takes something that is extra or extraordinary or once in a lifetime to really have them come and say, yes, this is the trip that I want to make. So we ensure that all of those events we have things wrapped around so somebody comes. Hopefully they have a great time and they want to come back.
Speaker 1:Taylor initially booked one night. When you heard she was going to add another night, what'd you think?
Speaker 2:We were very excited to get both nights know that on her next leg she's not coming here, but Minneapolis would welcome her back anytime, just like, I think, any other city in the country.
Speaker 3:I think my husband had to tell me you better calm down because, I was overly excited.
Speaker 1:I just want to share some additional research that I came across from a research firm, QuestionPro. The tour is estimated to have generated nearly five billion in consumer spending in the United States, and that's just this leg, because we know she's extending it in 2024. What's really interesting is just the per person spending. Concertgoers spent nearly $1,300 per show and 71% of the concertgoers said it was worth it. So you obviously saw firsthand spending activity in Minneapolis that probably match some of that.
Speaker 3:We had hotel rates from an average that were very strong over not only the two days of the concert but the days leading up and the days leading out and, as I said, our food and beverage revenues were tremendous during that period of time because everyone who's staying in the hotel is going to explore some of the food and beverage within the property. But we also know that those attendees went out and explored neighborhood restaurants. They took Metro Transit down to Mall of America, super easy ride from Minneapolis City Center. So it was. I know that that economic impact existed and we felt it. But we also saw the joy that came for those families. This was the decision they made to invest in connection and it was wonderful to watch them experience the city in that way.
Speaker 2:The merchandise trailer is always a very hyped event for all of the Taylor tours and she has an opportunity for fans that aren't necessarily attending the concert to be able to purchase memorabilia and apparel. And for us that took place in Commons Park, which is right outside of US Bank Stadium so beautiful, beautiful venue and obviously a lovely warm summer days and those folks that went and were able to get that sweatshirt or that hat or those t-shirts there were more than a few people that were walking around downtown that didn't go to see the show, that were happy to be a part of that excitement.
Speaker 1:Chrissy, share your perspective. Having seen the merch lines, what kind of experience was that like?
Speaker 3:Well, I drive by there every day on my way to work and the first day, which was actually before concert day, I couldn't figure out what was going on. There were 300 people in line at 7.30.
Speaker 1:In the morning.
Speaker 3:In the morning there were Taylor Swift songs being played. I thought they had dropped more tickets for the concert, but it was legitimately people who were there to get their favorite sweatshirt, their t-shirt, whatever they could do to mark the occasion for themselves as having attended the concert.
Speaker 1:I'm curious was there projections on how many people bought merchandise or who weren't going to the concert but just kind of flooded that area because they just wanted a piece of that?
Speaker 2:Taylor Swift's team is notoriously confidential with a lot of the information. We do know that at other cities that had some slightly different configurations, they would get upwards of 10,000 people that would come and sing along outside of the concert. Wow, so certainly there was some of that energy that was here as well.
Speaker 1:Christy, you stepped into the role as a person being interviewed by camera crews. Tell us about that other side of the experience of not only being a general manager from a great hotel but now stepping into the role of tourism ambassador.
Speaker 3:I could not be more proud of Minneapolis as a city. This is a fantastic location. So to have an opportunity to highlight not only the experiences that were being created in the hotel but to actually be interviewed with a visitor, as I said, dylan, 13 years old, from Indianapolis, it was such a heartwarming moment to just hear him share his excitement for that experience and his joy at being in the hotel. He was making friendship bracelets when I found him, so I feel like the other side of that really is helping people to understand Minneapolis is such an approachable city. The concert venues are walkable from the hotels. There's amazing green space happening right in front of US Bank Stadium, so it just fit together and it came naturally, honestly to me to be able to share that with the news and with all the people who missed out this round, but we hope to have in Minneapolis soon.
Speaker 2:For Taylor Swift. There are so many fans, and that extends to our local news media. So there were videographers and photographers and reporters that were so excited that they had the opportunity to report on this very hyped show that they were excited to personally attend in advance. So it was a wonderful excitement. I would say that Taylor Swift is the gift that keeps on giving. There was so much energy and publicity in the lead up to her show. We did wrap up afterwards with all of the hotel information, the average daily rate, which is $106 for that Friday and Saturday night, and the media was very excited about that. And then since then we've had plethora of national media that have all called to say, hey, can you talk about what it was like when Taylor Swift came to town? So she is her own marketing engine and we're very fortunate for what she's been able to do for Minneapolis.
Speaker 1:And the last time she was in Minneapolis was what about five years ago? And that was also US Bank Stadium.
Speaker 2:Correct. So she was here five years ago for two nights. So we were very excited because she had announced that second night after Strong sales for the first night and not nearly the same amount of dollars that were spent in the community while still a great event, obviously. Her five years in between have really put her in the stratosphere.
Speaker 1:One final question, and maybe the most important question what's your favorite Taylor Swift song, christy?
Speaker 3:Definitely, I forgot that you existed.
Speaker 2:Courtney. I love the song Exile and I was really surprised that she didn't actually perform it as a pop-up song during her concert here, so hopefully she'll come back, she'll bring back Bonavere and they'll be able to perform that in the future.
Speaker 1:Courtney Reese, christy Loy, a sincere thank you for taking the time to discuss Swift onomics, as some are calling it, and its impact on Minneapolis and really the state of Minnesota. We appreciate you being our guests on the Growing Destinations podcast. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations podcast and don't forget to subscribe. This podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Find out more about Rochester, minnesota and its growing arts and culture scene, its international culinary flavors and award-winning craft beer by visiting Experience Rochester MNcom.