Melvin Tennant, President & CEO, Meet Minneapolis

In an interview with Invest:, Melvin Tennant, president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis, spoke about returning to pre-pandemic levels in hospitality jobs, attracting new visitors through events and convention planning, and the importance of arts and culture to attracting new visitors. “We are the largest city in this region, and we have arts and culture, sports, and restaurants, so we are trying to leverage being that hub of activity in this region,” he said.

What are some of Meet Minneapolis’ great successes over the past year?
We have continued in our industry recovery. We are a tourism advocacy organization for the city. There have been significant increases in hotel occupancy and demand. It has brought the return of many hospitality jobs that support our industry. Pre-pandemic, we were at 36,000 jobs, and now we are about back to 33,000 jobs. Our industry is definitely seeing a great improvement.
In 2024, we celebrated a tourism year marked by exciting events, significant milestones
and record-breaking numbers. Our city’s hotels sold more than two million rooms for the first time since 2019. The Meet Minneapolis sales team recorded a second straight year of booking more than 525,000 future group hotel room nights. And the city was a hub for a wide range of large-scale events, from World Cup cross country skiing, Big Ten Basketball Tournaments and U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials to the 40th anniversary of “Purple Rain” and numerous major convention groups including the American Physical Society, Jack and Jill of America and the American Public Health Association.
Another sign of our success in the community is that we have seen the return of every single international air route that we had previously. We now have two carriers servicing Dublin, Ireland – both Delta and Aer Lingus. In 2025, we’re adding direct flights from MSP to Rome and Copenhagen. This return of international air service speaks to the fact that our business community is improving.

What strategies or initiatives have successfully attracted visitors to the region?
We have found that as a city, it is important for us to show people what they can experience. We spend a lot of time re-introducing our leisure travelers, as well as meeting and event decision-makers, to the city. One of the ways we drive positive momentum is through what we call the “Layering Effect.” Simply put, when we have the opportunity to overlay major conventions, meetings, and sporting events with concerts, theater performances, and festivals, the impact can be far greater than the sum of its parts.
For example, in March 2024, we had two powerhouse events happening simultaneously—the American Physical Society met at the Minneapolis Convention Center and the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament was at Target Center. It was a mashup of roughly 13,000 physicists from around the world and a record 129,000 basketball spectators from all across the United States. The result? A massive week for Minneapolis hotels.
In July, the convention center hosted a major local corporate summit and the GALA Choruses Festival, which included 7,000 LGBTQ+ singers with 122 choruses from around North America and the world. Plus, there was a sold-out Minnesota Lynx – Indiana Fever game at Target Center.
That rolled right into a week where we hosted the Academy of General Dentistry, the Stonewall Sports National Tournament & Summit, the Rubik’s WCA North American Championship and nearly 15,000 Herbalife convention-goers. Add in a massive Twins series with the Brewers at Target Field and we saw the highest weekly hotel room revenue ever—more than $12.5 million in just seven days.
Layering events helps us draw diverse audiences that keep our city thriving. It’s not just about one big event—it’s about many events and partners working together to build sustained success for our community.

How do you showcase the city’s cultural richness to domestic and international visitors?
This is integral to our messaging. Arts and culture are essential. We have several partnerships with organizations such as the Hennepin Arts. They operate several historical theaters in Minneapolis. We are really proud that we recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of (the film) “Purple Rain,” which was filmed here by our hometown celebrity Prince. A new Broadway musical version of this iconic movie will have its pre-Broadway premiere in Minneapolis in the fall. There is a lot of investment in our cultural facilities, and Hennepin Arts attracts more than half a million visitors annually. Arts and culture are part of our DNA as a community and a major part of our lives. Our recent work promoting the Minneapolis Cultural Districts is another important way we do this. As part of the Minneapolis 2040 plan to strengthen neighborhoods, the city of Minneapolis identified seven Cultural Districts to highlight the rich sense of cultural and/or linguistic identity rooted in communities significantly populated by people of color, Indigenous people and/or immigrants. We do this with a marketing campaign, authentic website content written by people in the districts, the use of videos and creating a friendly visitor map that invites people to explore these parts of the city.

What are some of the challenges and opportunities facing destination marketing organizations in today’s rapidly evolving tourism landscape?
We have to keep on top of the changing moods and desires of leisure travelers. There has been a lot of transformation over the last few years, so we must continually update our insights on traveler interests and intent to adjust our marketing campaigns to keep up with that. There is a lot of competition in the marketplace, and cities are making significant investments in travel and tourism assets. We just announced our new 10-year destination master plan titled, “Destination Minneapolis: Charting the Future of Minneapolis Tourism.” This is a road map to ensure that Minneapolis continues to be a dynamic, competitive and welcoming place for meetings, conventions and events, as well as for business and leisure travelers. The heart of the destination master plan includes five high-level strategic goals, and to advance these goals, six big ideas have been identified to help transform the city’s visitor economy and enhance the quality of life for residents. Over the next decade, these initiatives may change. With progress and momentum, new initiatives may be identified and added to align with the success of the strategic goals. Meet Minneapolis will champion this plan, convene key stakeholders, advocate for strategic initiatives, and work alongside public and private partners to bring this vision to life.

What are some key partnerships or collaborations that help to foster and enhance the city’s appeal?

We work closely with our airport authority, and that helps us to be a viable domestic and international destination. We have been able to secure major conventions such as Rotary International and Lions Club International by working with the local chapters. We work closely with our downtown council because downtown is the living room of the region, and we want it clean, green, and safe. We also work with our parks board and the authorities that manage our stadiums, convention centers, and public facilities. We have a hand-in-glove relationship with our key partners, and they understand the value of tourism and how we can sustain jobs in our community.

What is your outlook for Meet Minneapolis in the next few years? What are your top priorities?

We continue to adapt to new consumer wishes and desires. We have to keep our product fresh, and we need to encourage our visitors to stay longer. Those are some of our priorities that we are continuing with, as well as keeping up with trends and improvements that other destinations are making because we don’t want to get left behind.