Explore Minnesota Tourism Council
Best Western / Kelly Inn, Saint Cloud

Members: Jennifer Bateman (for Dawn Sullivan), Rob Buntz, Bonnie Carlson, Gabe Castaneda, Dutch Cragun, Randy Gutzmann, Nancy Hanson, Wally Heise, Doug Killian (for Maureen Bausch), Deb Lloyd, Julie Lunning, Shawn Mason, Shawn Radford, Senator Carrie Ruud, Maureen Scallen (for Greg Ortale), Ingrid Schneider, Kathy Schroeder (for Lisa Paxton), Dave Siegel, Representative Dean Simpson, Senator Rod Skoe, Tom Whelan

Guests: Bob Dickerson, Charley Howe

Staff: John Edman, Peggy Lindquist, Colleen Tollefson

Welcome: Chair John Edman thanked the members for attending the Tourism Conference prior to today’s Council meeting. Approximately 340 people attended the 2006 conference. A special thanks to members of the Council who served on the Tourism Conference Task Force. A lot of positive changes came as a result of the Task Force recommendations.

Approval of December 6, 2005 Meeting Minutes: Minutes from the December 6th meeting were e-mailed to members. Motion to pass the minutes as recoded was made by Rob Buntz, seconded by Julie Lunning. All members in favor. Motion passed.

Tourism Awareness – Tom Whelan and Rob Buntz: The Eggs & Issues Forum that was used at the Tourism Conference was a great tool to get the industry interacting with legislators, and educating legislators on the importance of tourism.

The cereal boxes will provide a great PR tool. It should be used when meeting with media, legislators, county commissioners and city officials. It provides a fun way to help increase tourism awareness. The cereal box provides a visual representation of tourism, along with a message about its importance throughout the state. Each conference attendee received four boxes, along with stickers to provide regional information. A total of 3,500 boxes were printed. Distribution is as follows: 1,000 for Tourism Conference attendees; 1,000 to statewide associations (100 to each association); 1,500 available for requests. The plan is to get the majority of the boxes out within the next two months. A press release was distributed on January 26 announcing the promotion. Stickers with statistics broken out by region are available.

At the members’ request, some talking points to go along with the cereal box will be written and available on www.industry.exploreminnesota.com.

Senator Ruud indicated she would be using the box on television spots in her community. Curt Johnson (EMT) will also use when meeting with media.

Ingrid Schneider informed that Council that the Tourism Center recently conducted a telephone survey to 800 people and had a question on the importance of tourism to Minnesota’s economy. Sixty-four percent of the respondents indicated that tourism is very important, a total of 97% thought it was at least somewhat to very important to the economy.

Public Policy Task Force – Rob Buntz: A report of Sales Tax Data and Employment Data was distributed. This report corresponds with the Annual Sales Tax Reports and Statistics published by the Department of Revenue. The information is broken down at the county level. Further information can be found on the industry website.

The Task Force has also been monitoring the 200-day school year. This topic should not be addressed as an “us vs. them” discussion. The role of the tourism industry is to educate the legislators as to what is best for the students. Talking points to this subject matter are available on the industry website.

Davidson Peterson Contract Future – John Edman: The contract is jointly funded by the University of Minnesota Tourism Center, Explore Minnesota Tourism, and the regional associations. The contract costs $140,000 annually. Currently, the contract is done on a yearly basis. If the Council agrees to continue on a yearly basis, there may be a need to seek out industry sponsors.

Recommendations by Council:

  • Continue to gather information on a yearly basis.
  • Maintain customer profiles
  • Conduct intercept survey
  • Continue to do for another year. Information is needed to move forward and present to legislature, media.
  • It is in EMT’s best interest to provide current information to the legislature
  • Is it possible to get the model and do internally?

Funding Initiative – John Edman: The request to increase the Enhancement funding from $1 million to $2 million is on hold. The plan is to look at it again during the next legislative session.

Process for Partnership Review – Colleen Tollefson: An internal review will be held in mid-February. An industry task force will be formed for external review. The task force will include two representatives appointed by each region, as well as two representatives of statewide associations and one private sector representative. The task force will meet twice (proposed dates in early March and early April). The initial meeting will be used to gather feedback on the program and its effectiveness. Issues will be heard by both EMT and industry representatives. Revised guidelines would be available for the task force review in May, with recommendations presented to the full Tourism Council in June. Guidelines will be available to the industry in July.

The Council supports this review process. Funding of the partnership program accounts for 10 percent of EMT’s budget and there needs to be accountability.

Spring/Summer Advertising – Charley Howe, Colle + McVoy: A complete copy of the Spring/Summer Communications Plan was distributed to members. Some of the major pieces include:

  • Spring/Summer campaign will include shots of specific locations
  • Consumer does not want to be reminded of their stress
  • Minnesotans are in love with the Minnesota vacation. There is not a need to invest a lot of money locally.
  • More dollars will be invested in the should season
  • Number 1 reason people come to Minnesota is to visit friends and family
  • There is a need to open and facilitate new markets
  • Need to enter new markets to create more awareness of what Minnesota has to offer. Next new market is St. Louis. Will enhance the Chicago market.
  • The upcoming generation of travelers will receive most of their information via the internet. Print and television ads will not reach them.
  • Web address and toll free number will appear during the entire duration of the television ad.
  • Will continue with the Minnesota Broadcasters Association radio partnership
  • Need to get better exposure of the www.exploreminnesota.com site

Comments from the Council include:

  • Consumers are demanding on-line bookings
  • Difficult to measure awareness, which is the intent of radio and some television ads
  • How does Minnesota differentiate itself from other vacation destinations?

RFP for Statewide Guide – John Edman: The 2007 Minnesota Travel Guide will include a listing of statewide accommodations. A Request for Proposal will be published in the February 6th State Register. Proposals will be accepted for design services only, advertising sales only, or for both design and advertising.

Process for Ad Agency Review – John Edman: The ad contract with Colle + McVoy will expire on June 30. Explore Minnesota Tourism is in the process of soliciting requests for an advertising agency. A Request for Proposal has been drafted. Process will include written proposals and oral presentations.

Next Steps Cultural/Heritage: It is time to revisit the different products and players that cultural/heritage brings to the tourism industry. Arts, history and theater are important to Minnesota’s tourism economy. The 2000 tourism conference had an emphasis on cultural/heritage. Some of those attendees have continued to attend the conference and been active in tourism, some have never returned. It was suggested that for future conferences, one track of the breakout sessions be geared to this segment.

Staffing Update – John Edman: The hiring process for the Communications manager continues. Rae Van Wyhe, EMT’s Marketing Manager announced her retirement, effective February 7. An announcement will be published in two future editions of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Sunday papers

Other: Bonnie Carlson suggested that the Council get together for a retreat, in order to tackle some of the bigger agenda items. The Council has been together for one year and should be providing guidance on issues such as tourism awareness, funding and partnerships (both internal and external). Dutch Cragun offered his property for the meeting. Proposed retreat would take place sometime during the last week of April.

Rob Buntz mentioned that MnDOT has written an RFP to sell kiosks/back lit displays at TICs and rest areas. This is a tourism issue. The Council suggested filing a motion to stop the RFP. John Edman explained to the Council that the RFP has already been written and that the buildings are owned by MnDOT.

Tom Whelan stated that many faces at the Conference are the same year after year. It is time to find the next wave of tourism supporters, while continuing relationships with those who continue to support the industry. It was recommended that the Tourism Conference Task Force meet soon to debrief on the Conference. This meeting will be held in February.

Next Meeting Dates:

Late April/Early May – EMT Council Retreat

June 13

September 12

December 12