The City of Minneapolis and mpls downtown council jointly received an award on behalf of Nicollet at the Meet Minneapolis Annual Meeting on March 22 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Nicollet received the Innovation in Tourism Award, an honor presented annually to an individual or organization that contributes to the advancement of the hospitality community impacting the destination’s visitors and attendees. mpls downtown council president & ceo Steve Cramer accepted the award. The $50 million Nicollet renovation, public-private partnership, was completed in 2017. Learn more about Nicollet—the project itself, public art and upcoming programming—at www.onnicollet.com.
Other winners of awards at the Meet Minneapolis Annual Meeting include:
Excellence in Meetings, Events & Conventions Award – This award is for an individual, institution or organization whose efforts will result in an impact to the city for years. Award winner: University of Minnesota Athletics
President’s Award – This award honors an individual or organization that contributes significantly to the visitor experience of Minneapolis. Award winner: Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee
Lifetime Achievement Award – Presented this year to former Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson
Here are a few other key facts and figures from the event highlighting tourism and visitors in our downtown:
- Room Nights: 648,450 total room nights booked reaching 109% of the goal for 2017
- Minneapolis Convention Center: Revenue of $19.6 million, surpassing the 2017 goal by 105%
- Private Revenue: Meet Minneapolis raised $3.05 million in private revenue or 121% of the goal for 2017
Minneapolis Convention Center highlights:
Part of Meet Minneapolis’ role is to attract conferences and conventions to the Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC). Last year, the MCC had a record year with $19.6 million in revenue, which exceeded all other years by more than $1 million. The MCC hosted 380 meetings, conventions and trade shows for the year, with 819,000 attendees. That helped support more than 7,500 jobs in the community.
High-profile sporting events in 2018, in addition to successfully partnering with the Super Bowl Host Committee, will include:
- ESPN X Games at U.S. Bank Stadium
- WNBA All Star Game at Target Center
- NCAA Women’s 2018 Division I Volleyball Championship at Target Center
- National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC) Symposium for sports tourism at the MCC
