Explore MN conference reflects on statewide tourism impact

DULUTH, Minn.– A two-day conference is underway, and it’s reflecting on how tourism has impacted the state.

Over 500 tourism professionals are at the DECC to discuss how each county can shine.

The focus is on marketing, AI and evolving the tourism industry.

One representative said, getting together to network does wonders for smaller communities.

“It’s exciting to welcome people like this. We’re able to help other industries, small businesses, benefit from benefit from tourism, especially. And I love seeing the number of people that visit Duluth every single year,” Haley Hedstrom, Executive Director at Visit Duluth said.

As for Duluth, Hedstrom said tourism alone welcomes in 6 to 7 million people each year.

That economic impact drove in $15 million last year.

However, Hedstrom told FOX 21, there’s still room to grow.

“We’ve seen a little bit of a plateau, and that’s something at visit Duluth that we’re working on, whether it’s sales, additional marketing, et cetera. We want to continue to grow the tourism revenue so we can reinvest that back into our community,” Hedstrom said.

The conference is hosted by explore MN. They also have a virtual option to attend, with some tuning in all the way from Germany.