Growing Destinations
Your go-to source for insightful discussions on destination development. The Growing Destinations podcast delves into the strategies, challenges, and successes that drive community growth. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local and national experts, uncovering universal themes and innovative practices that can be applied to any city or region.
Growing Destinations
Minnesota tourism leaders discuss the state of the visitor economy – from challenges to opportunities
Explore Minnesota's dynamic tourism landscape in this episode of the Growing Destinations podcast, featuring insights from Linda Jurek, executive director of Visit Cook County, Julie Wearn, CEO of Visit Roseville, and Joe Ward, president of Experience Rochester. These tourism leaders share how they navigate challenges such as unpredictable weather, the economy and shifting visitor trends while seizing new opportunities.
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.
Linda Jurek:The impact of no snow last winter was kind of like a COVID impact in other areas. We were just like, oh my gosh, you know there was like we saw such a reduction in travel For us this winter. I'd like to focus on something like snowmobiling because I can see growth in an area you know we can track that.
Joe Ward:People meet the way they used to meet. They want to meet in person, they want to connect and we're very grateful for that, and I think all of our community should be very grateful for that, because that infuses money into our local economies.
Julie Wearn:The collaborations that we're doing now with other bureaus around our Twin Cities area for marketing and promotion for American Bus Association Circle Wisconsin and a trade show in Chicago. We're partnering with Twin Cities Gateway with Minneapolis Northwest and pooling our money together to make a bigger impact on trade shows and to bring in leisure visitors along with meetings.
Bill Von Bank: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. At the end of Minnesota's summer tourism season, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, hospitality Minnesota and Explore Minnesota conducted a sentiment survey to assess the state of the hospitality and tourism industries. The recently released data reveals some challenges Viewer customers, declining revenue and rising costs of labor and goods that are putting pressure on businesses. Coupled with unpredictable weather and inflation. Many operators are finding it difficult to maintain stability. Despite these hurdles, there are opportunities ahead.
Bill Von Bank:Today, we're joined by three leaders navigating this challenging landscape. Linda Jurek is Executive Director of Visit Cook County in Northeast Minnesota. Julie Wearn is Executive Director of Visit Roseville in the Twin Cities metro area. And Joe Ward is President of Experience Rochester and the Mayo Civic Center in Southern Minnesota. Together, we'll explore how their regions and cities are adapting to the economic realities of 2024, the trends they're observing in visitor behavior and their outlook for 2025. Linda Jurek, julie Wearn, joe Ward. Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast.
Julie Wearn:Thank you, Thank you Thanks.
Bill Von Bank:Bill Glad to be here. As I noted in my intro, the latest tourism sentiment data tells a cautionary tale, but that's one data point in one moment in time, and you all track data as well. So how would you describe the current state of tourism in your regions? And, Linda, we'll start in northeast Minnesota and visit Cook County. First tell us about the region that you represent and then let's talk about how things are looking.
Linda Jurek:Oh boy, I could talk for hours on our region. We're the eighth largest county in the state, population 5,600. Recent studies showed that we have an economic tourism impact of 80%. So that's big and a lot of visitors per year 1.2 million. I'm going to touch on that in a few of my answers. We are a very, very big recreation area. That said, we're 90% public lands and we're unusual in that we're bordered by the country of Canada, the beautiful Lake Superior and those public lands. So one road in, one road out, six hours north of where I'm sitting right now.
Bill Von Bank:You've seen the data from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve and the other organizations and they didn't paint a rosy picture from this past summer. How has tourism been in Visica County?
Linda Jurek:Very strong and I think that we've worked really hard. I don't think I know we've worked hard to really solidify tourism as our biggest business. So we have experienced a very, very strong summer. I would say that we have a lot of new developments, not only in transfer of ownership but brick and mortar, which is really exciting. It's hard to do brick and mortar in very, very far Northeastern Minnesota. It's a lot more expensive, so that's exciting for us. The one thing that's been a bit of a hurdle to get over in saying that we're strong is that the no snow, no ice winter of Q1, starting Q1 of 2024, really took a hit on us. So financially, when you're based on a bed tax or lodging tax collection, we're still coming out of that, but tourism in itself is strong.
Bill Von Bank:Julie, you represent Roseville, minnesota, right in the heart of the Twin Cities. Tell us a little bit about your city and then let's talk about how the tourism industry has fared.
Julie Wearn:We call ourselves perfectly positioned in the Twin Cities area because we are the only city that touched on St Paul and Minneapolis, so we're like you come in, we have a variety of hotels in every price range. Go to your sporting event, go to your concert, go to see the Twins, see the Vikings, see the United, the soccer, see Minnesota Wild, and come back and stay and visit Roseville, which has free parking, lower hotel taxes and it's a great location for a hub and spoke. And we also have Rosedale Center, which is the second largest shopping center behind Mall of America.
Bill Von Bank:You've also seen the data this past summer. How has tourism been for your city?
Julie Wearn:It was a slow winter. It was a slow winter. It was a slow winter but honestly our summer we probably averaged about 73% in the summer and year to date through August our occupancy is 61% and our average rate is $117.86, which for us is huge and last year we ran about 59% occupancy with $111 ADR. So rate is very strong, everybody's driving rate. And the thing now is we've noticed that corporate has slowed down and it's because with COVID you find out that Zoom calls do work. So the number of people traveling on a monthly basis has gone down and hotel occupancy Sunday through Wednesday is softer than hoteliers would like it. Thursday through Sunday we have great leisure corporate mix and also it's slower booking times. So hoteliers are saying it's hard to forecast what traffic is gonna look like because people book so much short-term now.
Bill Von Bank:Joe, rochester, minnesota's third largest city in Southern Minnesota, home to Mayo Clinic, its global headquarters. Big amount of people working there On top of that and the visitation that comes from medical tourism. Rochester also has a big convention center, the Mayo Civic Center. So talk a little bit about how that is playing into the mix and what you're seeing in terms of business.
Joe Ward:Well, it's interesting first to hear what Julie said about their flow of traffic, where they're slower during the week and busy on the weekends, and Rochester is almost a flipped universe from that because of the Mayo Clinic. So you have Mondays through Thursdays are our biggest nights, our busiest nights, and so for us, you know, we're trying to introduce Rochester in a different way a little later in the week to try to grow that. But at the same time there's also a bread and butter that goes around with the Mayo Civic Center around, yes, medical meetings, but also conventions of any sort, 200,000 square feet that need to be filled. So we've had a really great year actually of actualization, in that it's a result of a lot of work that was leaned into during those pandemic years. So we took advantage, I guess, of a very lean time. But it's paying off right now and we're starting to see that growth. We are definitely seeing pre-pandemic levels for more than a year now.
Bill Von Bank:So I think we're back After the pandemic we saw a significant boom in domestic tourism as people sought out local travel experiences. Linda, I know right out of the gate during the pandemic you saw a surge.
Linda Jurek:A big surge and it was crazy. Our surge occurred in 21, 22. And we really, you know, sad to say benefited from COVID. We had a tremendous amount of visitors and when I look at where we're at right now, one of the benefits of that is that we put a lot of best practices in place that were not only for the health and safety of our travelers, but they really worked economically. So when you think of you know room night minimums, three night minimums, or when you think of turning over a room and not having that anymore so there's been a lot of good practices that we put in place I will add that we are not back. We haven't fallen back to 2019 levels and I don't expect that to happen. You know, after the surge, we're not. We haven't gone back that far yet. You know we're seeing a little reduction, but nothing close to 2019.
Bill Von Bank:Julie in the Twin Cities, obviously not the great outdoors like Linda has. In relation to more people coming because of COVID, how now, compared to COVID, you probably are rebounding still.
Julie Wearn:We did. And I must add, right now has COVID struck. We were doing our Roseville in Bloom 20 roses, 27 foot tall roses throughout the city, so that was going to be our big tourism promotion for the summer and it was like dang. But what happened with that is that we worked with the city and the schools and it's like this is a COVID free activity that you can do you can ride your bike, you can walk, you can drive by every single rose that is outdoors. So we got a lot of PR out of that. We got a lot of TV and radio off of that, which was pretty darn cool. And the roses are still up and people are still traveling to them. And then we also did well after the pandemic we benefited from sporting events because those have picked up our convention business. You know we're not getting a lot of overflow from St Paul or Minneapolis because they're not booking the major citywide conventions as they used to. So that is down and I expect that's going to be a while back before that comes.
Bill Von Bank:Joe, you're no stranger to this podcast and I recall some conversations we had a couple years ago, as we were still in the pandemic, and the impact that when Mayo Clinic stopped elective surgeries for a while and then when they brought them back, it was almost, like you know, from a light switch off to a light switch on in terms of visitation.
Joe Ward:Oh yeah, the floodgates open and it's like okay, we're back, except, guess what? All the employees in the hospitality industry weren't back yet. So obviously there are challenges that you work through with service and all those types of things, but definitely we're very, very fortunate I mean we really are to have Mayo Clinic in our backyard. It's the world's best hospital, it's the state's largest employer and that baseline that we've always had we're very grateful for. And these are visitors, these are guests. We have our eye out for them. I think the thing.
Joe Ward:I was new to Minnesota at the time. I started in late July of 2019, so just before the pandemic and I'd come in thinking there was an opportunity anyway to reintroduce the Mayo Civic Center's recent expansion at the time, which I felt that more people needed to know about it. So when COVID came, we decided to just lean into that opportunity and our salespeople were our first people back. Our funding model allowed us to keep a couple more employees than most people did, so we used that time wisely to get in touch with people, to check on association managers who decide on meetings and things, to just see how they were doing and then use that time over a period of months to reintroduce them to what we have or to introduce them for the first time, and we're seeing that dividend now, the challenges that Minnesota may be having with a bit of a dip.
Joe Ward:This is not that, let's be clear. So I think it's more normalization and seeing. We always talked at that time about what's a post-COVID world look like. I think we see it. People spend a ton of money. Coming out of the pandemic I had more money than I'd ever had and my wallet's not as thick as it was at the time. So we're not doing as much and I think that's true for everybody. So you know, we're all working together and we highlight just sitting here hearing the differences of Minnesota and the variance. I think it's a great state where really you have so much of a change that fits and blends together throughout the state.
Bill Von Bank:that worked a lot in the country and it's very rare and it's a wonderful kind of rare I have one quick follow-up for you because, again, back when we talked about what does a post-pandemic world look like for the convention business, specifically the hybrid model, and at that time we thought, gee, maybe it's here to stay, it's not. I mean it went away.
Joe Ward:Yeah, I remember even myself saying well, I think that we've at least gotten to the point where there'll always be at least somebody remote and you'll have to have that capability. We still have that capability, but I honestly don't remember the last time we've had to employ that in a conference. Mayo does that, but they kind of always did because they have doctors who can't get away from other parts of the country who want to participate in that. But as far as somebody that realistically wants that element because that's the new way to meet, no people meet the way they used to meet. They want to meet in person, they want to connect and we're very grateful for that. And I think all of our communities should be very grateful for that because that infuses money into our local economies.
Bill Von Bank:What emerging trends are you seeing in travel preferences in your regions? Linda?
Linda Jurek:We've always been known as a very, very large outdoor recreating area and I don't see that changing. The travel trend that I'm really working on and Julie mentioned this earlier is that as well as we did during COVID, there was definitely a bump in our average daily rates and I'm very in tune to what's happening not only in the state and nation but internationally, in what people are willing to open their wallet for, and I have heard from numerous people, whether it's retail folks or dining, that they're hearing complaints from our visitors on the high average daily rate. So I'm really working hard. We're not part high average daily rate. So I'm really working hard. We're not part of the star report. So I'm working right now, in fact just this week, trying to get some of our properties on board so we can do some comparative data Looking at kind of trying to figure that out.
Linda Jurek:I don't want to be, I don't want to say to our lodging partners you got to bring it down, but at the same time, you know you have to do something. You know you have to do something. You know you have to reduce your minimums or something. That is something that I'm really working on, and then I think, of course, that's a huge economic equation when you think of staffing and when you think of the return on investment of a one night stay versus a three night stay and what that looks like. So we're as competitive ever and we just the outdoor.
Linda Jurek:The emerging trends there's not that many. I would like to say that I would focus on a pocket. For instance, especially after the impact of no snow last winter was kind of like a COVID impact in other areas we were just like, oh my gosh, you know there was like we saw such a reduction in travel For us this winter. I'd like to focus on something like snowmobiling because I can see growth in an area you know we can track that. So not too many emerging trends, but kind of focusing on some of the ones that we already have and really growing that trend.
Bill Von Bank:Julie, how about in Roseville and the greater Twin Cities area?
Julie Wearn:We see regional travel a lot. It's like the Great American Road Trip bring your family in for the weekend and again, we're perfectly positioned to everything that you can do in the Twin Cities area and in Roseville. And we're lucky with Rosedale that they're constantly reinventing the experience for the shopper and for tourism. Dick's Sporting Goods is opening their new center. We have restaurants that are less of chains and they're more family-owned and specialty restaurants, so that always makes it exciting for people to come to. And then our city is doing a Going Green. That is something that City Council is working on a Green to Go ordinance in the city so that we're very conscious of looking at the environment and working around that. And then we've got cultural experiences like Tapping Time in our parks. We have 30 parks in the city of Roseville, which is incredible. The biking, the walking, the hiking, the jogging that you can do in our city, in a big city, is incredible. I would again say incredible with 30 parks.
Bill Von Bank:Joe, how about in Rochester some trends?
Joe Ward:Well, I think we're transforming Rochester in some ways from a city that you have to go to for medical care to a city that you're choosing to go to, and that takes time because the priority again has been serving people from all over the world with very difficult situations and taking care of them. But we also have to know that we want it to be a place that attracts people and a place that builds off of that. So a very healthy place, a very active place. So we have lots of trails and active activity, but really we're also seeing people who've come in from other places. Diversity is very strong in Rochester and it's diversity from all over the world, but a lot of those people are now bringing their flavors to Rochester. They're opening restaurants and pop-ups and kind of giving that a try and it's working and they're converting to be really successful to serve more of that leisure visitor and get people from, let's say, the twin cities.
Joe Ward:We're not going to be building a roller coaster anytime soon, so it's not going to be Orlando, but it is a great place to come down and put together a solid few days of doing things.
Joe Ward:I think that ties in also to something that we had talked about a few years ago, which is the great American reconnection. People and it's not probably just America, it's all over the world People want to reconnect in a real way that we don't want to be separated by a computer anymore, and I think that that's probably shown up in challenges, even in, you know, this election season, where people really need to come together again. And it's okay to disagree and it's okay, you know, in civility and it's, you know, incivility. But if you don't know those folks, then it'll be a challenge. And I think tourism is such a special way to bring people together and you see that heart in Rochester, maybe a little more, because 75% of our visitors are there for a very, very heavy reason, and so any chance that they can get to reconnect on a human level is really important and really impactful and it's very grateful to be there to see that the role of your organizations has evolved from marketing to a more comprehensive approach of destination management.
Bill Von Bank:How have you adapted to this shift and what does destination management mean to you, linda?
Linda Jurek:Wow, that's a bucket full for me In the world of destination marketing organizations. Visit Cook County is relatively new, having been formed in 2010,. I think you've all probably heard a little bit of this story along the way. Three tourism associations came together to create Visica County. Those three tourism associations still exist, so I have four boards of directors, four very much with voices. The three tourism associations still are very much at the table deciding how to distribute our 1% event and grant dollars. So they come together very, very regularly.
Linda Jurek:So when it comes to whether we're a destination marketing organization or destination management organization, I would say we've always been a destination management organization I think the term came after and that's what I've always been doing.
Linda Jurek:So it's been very, very much heavily into that. That's kind of what I do for boards, for sets of bylaws, for sets of term limits a lot of time spent in that. But it's also part of what really brings the strength to visit Cook County, because all those voices in the regions of our county are also different. They come to the table having a real strong voice with what they offer in each area, which is really respectful and wonderful, because they're all represented on the big board of Visit Cook County, but they get to the table with their tourism associations and they talk about what's happening in their region of Cook County and it's really worked well. So I'm all about that transition. I always feel that we have to be that management organization. I would also say that we also need to keep marketing right at the top of that list and making sure that you have either somebody on your staff or that you're very aware and able to balance the marketing arena along with the organizational leadership pieces paramount to your success.
Bill Von Bank:Julie, many people might not realize how dynamic and impactful tourism is. What is it about working in tourism that you find most rewarding?
Julie Wearn:The variety, the sheer variety of things that you can do, the promotions that you create, the events that you create seeing occupancy rise. I mean it is never the same every single day and I've got a great team working together and it's the marketing, the sales, the promotion, the collaborations that we're doing now with other bureaus around our Twin Cities area for marketing and promotion for American Bus Association Circle Wisconsin and a trade show in Chicago. We're partnering with Twin Cities Gateway, with Minneapolis Northwest and pooling our money together to make a bigger impact on trade shows and to bring in leisure visitors along with meetings.
Bill Von Bank:Joe, you've been around the country, been in Rochester now for five-plus years. That's correct. What's been the most fulfilling part of promoting tourism in Rochester?
Joe Ward:I think being part of that welcoming experience and reaching out to people who need it the most and that's been fulfilling, I mean, every stop I've had in my career. My favorite part for sure is to see smiles on faces when people are experiencing something in your community, and the longer I've been in the industry, I've realized the impact that can make in your local residents as well. You know, when they start saying wait, actually this is kind of a cool place. I can see why people want to come here, because everywhere you go people are always like why would anyone come here? But I think it's. It's really to see that you do make a difference in people's lives and it and that magnifying lens is really on that when somebody is facing a potential terminal illness, when coming to Mayo Clinic or, at a minimum, something extremely challenging, and so it's highlighted even more.
Joe Ward:But really in the end, we're all delivering terrific hospitality and a little bit of love, you know, and we shouldn't, we shouldn't run away from that and we're the folks that you know. I'm from New York originally and it is a disclaimer that kind of follows me around and I see, in the destination marketing and destination management I'll call myself a Minnesotan, just for the second. I know I don't technically qualify, but the reality is we should be more willing to embrace, to tell that story. I think people are proud here, but they don't necessarily step up and say this is a fantastic place and that's what we all need to do, because it is, and we all need to just band together to continue to do that and not be ashamed.
Julie Wearn:People want to hear about us and, in this day and age, a real welcome, a warm welcome. I'm glad you're here and I hope you have a good time is much needed.
Joe Ward:And that's never more genuine than it is in Minnesota, right.
Bill Von Bank:We have time for one lightning round question. As you look to and help shape the next generation of destination marketers, what advice would you give them?
Linda Jurek:Lightning round, understanding the balance between marketing and the DMO and the destination market management organization critical and I would also say collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. We're here at MACVB and I would say that what I've learned in 11 years of doing this from the people at this table is incredible. Partnership and collaboration is huge across the state and across our organization.
Joe Ward:Joe, what advice would you give? I'd say dare to dream and dare to lean into it and dare to lead. Julie, what advice would you give?
Julie Wearn:I would say have fun. I mean it's a fun industry. Keep your hopes up, be optimistic and really work with your local governments. I mean have finger on the pulse there with your government leaders and your city council. It's big time important.
Bill Von Bank:Before we depart, I do want to give some recognition to Julie Wern, who is retiring at the end of the year after many years 17 years in this role with Roseville and many years in addition 86 altogether. Wow, 86.
Julie Wearn:Wow.
Linda Jurek:Wow, Did you see my face? I'm like what?
Joe Ward:Well, that Minnesota fresh air that makes you look so good.
Julie Wearn:And getting good makeup hair and makeup.
Bill Von Bank:Well, we just want to say thank you for what you've done to help and your leadership along the way because you've served on many boards and you've led many initiatives for the tourism industry in Minnesota.
Julie Wearn:Thank you. Thank you very much. It's been very rewarding.
Joe Ward:Yes, thank you, thank you and congratulations. Thank you.
Bill Von Bank:And I want to thank all three of you Linda Jurek with Visit Cook County, julie Wern with Visit Roseville and Joe Ward with Experience Rochester and Mayo Civic Center. Thank you all for being our guests on the Growing Destinations podcast.
Julie Wearn:Thanks for having us. Thank you.
Bill Von Bank: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 experiencerochestermncom.
