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EMT Express

Welcome to EMT Express, providing bi-weekly news and tips for the people who market Minnesota tourism.

EMT Partnership Match Increases

To develop maximum private sector involvement in tourism, Explore Minnesota Tourism is required to generate a match to state funding. For FY 09, Explore Minnesota Tourism’s cash & in-kind partnerships from non-state sources is currently at $7,146,564.61. For FY08 we had $6,817,307 in cash & in-kind; the FY 2009 match represents an increase of just over 4%.

Minnesota Lodging Performance – 1st Half of 2009

Overall, for the first six months of 2009, Minnesota lodging fared similar to the United States, but not as well as the West North Central Region. Within the state, Minneapolis-St. Paul Metro Area communities generally did not perform as well as the rest of the state. Metro communities had greater declines in demand (i.e., rooms sold). When combined with greater reductions in room rates and slightly higher growth in supply, changes in the other measures (i.e., occupancy, revenue and RevPAR) showed even greater differentiation between Metro and greater Minnesota areas. Minneapolis saw the biggest supply increase (10%) and room rate decrease (-10%), resulting in accentuated declines in occupancy (-19%) and RevPAR (-27%). Declines in business travel have also disproportionately impacted lodging in the Metro area.

Two different cross-sections of Minnesota’s first half lodging performance are provided in two sets of graphs of data from Smith Travel Research, Inc. (i.e., STR). Both sets of graphs show change on various lodging metrics for the first six months of 2009 compared with the same period a year earlier, and are provided here under permission granted by STR.

The first set of graphs (click here to view) provides a geographic comparison of the state and various sub-state areas with the United States overall and with the 12-state West North Central Region.

The second set of graphs (click here to view) shows 2009 month-by-month lodging performance for Minnesota through June. We’re still looking for lodging performance to turn the corner and start improving. Other economic indicators are hinting of recovery, including the recently-announced improvement in the national unemployment rate for June. However, the lodging industry will likely lag other sectors of the economy in its recovery. The time lag between the beginning of the downturn in travel and “turning off the spigot” of new inventory led to the current significant challenges for Minnesota’s lodging industry. By the time lodging demand does venture into positive territory, the hope is that a combination of factors including (by that time) decreased supply growth will help to accelerate the industry’s overall recovery.

Minnesota Travel Inquiries are Up

Direct inquiries are up from last July by 15.7%. Calls fielded by our Call Center were up 66% from last year.

Data File imports (leads from magazines, etc.) were up 12% from last month. High activity included 970 opt-ins from the Southwest Airlines Fox TV promotion and 7,405 leads from the I’d Rather Be On Vacation Sweepstakes. Adding to all of this we obtained an additional 2,447 value added leads from spring co-op newspaper insert above and beyond that for which was originally contracted.

Ad Sales for the Minnesota Travel Guide Close August 14, 2009

The final deadline for contracting advertising in the Minnesota Travel Guide is Friday, August 14, 2009. Ad sales for the 2010 Minnesota Travel Guide are currently ahead of last year’s pace and display space may be limited in certain sections. To ensure your place in next year’s Minnesota Travel Guide, send your contract today.

Ad materials and payment are due no later than August 28, 2009.

For more details and an ad contract:

http://industry.exploreminnesota.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/adbrochuretg10_5-20-09.pdf

For more information:

Northeast and Twin Cities Metro regions, contact:
tim.campbell@state.mn.us 888-876-6784

Northwest, Central and Southern regions, contact:
david.bergman@state.mn.us 888-563-7777

Minnesota Snowmobiling DESTINATIONS Guide Taking Advertisers

Minnesota Snowmobiling DESTINATIONS is the number one trip planning resource for Midwestern snowmobilers since 1989. It is circulated as the primary winter tourism response tool of the Explore Minnesota Tourism Office and as an insert in the October issue of Minnesota Snowmobiling.

Ad close date: August 24, 2009

Find more information and ad rates at http://industry.exploreminnesota.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Dest_RC_2009.pdf.

Cultural Heritage Tourism Workshops

It’s not too late! Network with others in your region by attending the Cultural Heritage Tourism Workshop in Thief River Falls this Thursday, August 13, 2009, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Presentations include case studies of successful Cultural Heritage and Tourism Partnerships given by Mara Wittman, Director of the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council and Cindy Habedank, Visit Bemidji. Other topics are “Overview of Online Advertising Trends” “Prioritizing Limited Advertising $$” and “Packaging = Profits.”

Registration is only $59 which includes lunch, break and materials. Register online at http://industry.exploreminnesota.com/culture/ or print off the posted registration form and fax it in to 651-296-7095.

Agritourism Workshops — Save the Date!

Would you like to learn what it would take to develop and run an agritourism business? What is the best way to market your agritourism enterprise? What liability, zoning, and management issues do you need to know about? How can others get involved in developing and building agritourism efforts in your community?

These questions and more will be explored during two agritourism workshops in August, 2009. Come and learn from a panel of successful agritourism business owners as they discuss the ins and outs of agritourism.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
The Depot
100 Aldrich Avenue SWWadena

Thursday, August 20, 2009
3:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Old Milan School Building
404 North 4th Street
Milan

For more information about the workshops, please contact Christy James at christy@rtcinfo.org or by phone at 612-963-0467.

These workshops are being coordinated by Renewing the Countryside, in partnership with the University of Minnesota Tourism Center, Agricultural Alternatives/STEP, and Western Minnesota Prairie Waters Regional Tourism and are sponsored by Minnesota Grown and North Central SARE.

Grant Writing Workshop, Friday, August 21, 2009, Little Falls

This is a valuable opportunity for those who have little or no grant writing experience to hear professional writers and reviewers present techniques for researching funders and creating effective grant proposals.

Workshop topics will include:

  • reviewing your expectations
  • types of funding
  • funders and funding research
  • developing the grant proposal
  • goals, objectives & evaluation
  • the budget
  • submitting the proposal

Click here for a brochure & registration form.

Register early: seating is limited and this event nearly always fills up!

To register, contact Jolene Howard at jhoward@ifound.org, or 877-632-9255.

A $55 program fee includes lunch, refreshments and program materials.

Two Harbors Chamber Now Staffs North Shore Information Center at Lester River

Tourists heading out of Duluth up the North Shore of Lake Superior have stopped at the little blue information center near the Lester River Bridge for years. With Two Harborites at the helm, the information site re-opened on July 9, 2009 and visitors keep on stopping. Since that time, an average of 150 people a day pick up information

The Two Harbors Area Chamber will staff the visitor center with three full-time employees, seven days a week through mid-October. The visitor center is open Mondays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Birding Building Consumer Base

A new 20-page report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service elaborates on data collected in their 2006 survey on hunting, fishing, and outdoor-related recreation, especially as it relates to birding. Of particular interest is that Minnesota ranked fourth nationwide in the percentage of citizens who participated in birding, at 33%. The U.S. average is 21%. Minnesota had 1,448,000 birders, of whom 7% were from out of state. The other 93% of birders were Minnesota residents.

Also, between 2001 and 2006, there was a significant national trend–an 8% increase in the number of persons traveling more than a mile from home to see birds. Each traveled an average of 14 times per year for birding.

Nationwide, a total of 48 million birders spent $12 billion on trip-related expenditures for birding in 2006 and $24 billion on birding-related equipment for a total of $36 billion total expenditures.

The Web site for the entire report is: http://library.fws.gov/Pubs/birding_natsurvey06.pdf.

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