Present: Fred Bobich, Rob Buntz, Bonnie Carlson, Gabe Castaneda, Randy Gutzmann, Nancy Hanson, Senator Amy Koch, Sandy Lexvold, Julie Lunning, Senator Mary Olson, Greg Ortale, Lisa Paxton, Ingrid Schneider, Dave Siegel, Hank Todd, John Valliere

Guest: Maureen Scallen

EMT Staff: John Edman, Leann Kispert, Peggy Lindquist, Michele Peters, Pat Simmons, Colleen Tollefson, Char Vaughan

Welcome and Introductions: Chair John Edman thanked the members for their attendance and support.  There are currently five vacancies on the Council.  Governor’s Office is finalizing the paperwork for the new appointees and should be completed in the near future.

A Strategic Planning Session will be held with the Council on September 11 and 12.  Further information will be provided to members.

Members were asked to introduce themselves and their affiliation.  Members provided any updates and summer outlook for their industry sector.

Updates/Outlooks include:

  • Brainerd summer season is starting well.  Lake levels are up.
  • Minnesota Valley area is slow, but business      is picking up.
  • Minnesota Recreational Trail Users Association recently received the President’s Volunteer Award.
  • Tour Minnesota Association recently had a bus “wrapped” and will showcase it at the event at Valleyfair
  • Saint Cloud has seen an increase in business, lodging and lodging tax collections
  • Minneapolis is hosting several conventions. Business is good.  Revenue is      up over 9%.

Legislative Review - John Edman: EMT’s budget received an increase of $1 million to its base budget.  The Governor’s recommendation was for an additional $1 million in the first year of the biennium and another $2 million in the second year.  New funds will be used for marketing, grants and web/electronic marketing.

The Minnesota Film and TV Board will receive $325,000 per year from our budget.  The Snowbate Program is funded at $650,000 per year for the next two fiscal years.  The Snowbate Program received $1.7 million last year.  Of this, $150,000 has been used to date. Funding is available through June 30.  Mr. Todd motioned that Explore Minnesota Tourism ask the Attorney General’s Office for an opinion on any unspent funds relating to the Minnesota Film and TV Board if this is not authorized by the Department of Finance. Ms. Carlson seconded the motion.  All members in favor.

There is $150,000 allocated to the St. Louis County Heritage/Arts Center in the first fiscal year.

Minnesota Sesquicentennial received a separate appropriation of $750,000.

The legislative auditor is currently reviewing Explore Minnesota Tourism’s program.  This is a normal state process.

Travel Green Program - John Edman:

A “Travel Green” program was introduced in the 2007 legislative session.  This program directs EMT to coordinate an analysis of a Minnesota Travel Green program, in cooperation with a number of agencies, organizations and businesses.  The specific language can be found in Chapter 131, S.F. 1131.  This language was authored by Senator Satveer Chaudhary.  Council members feel further clarification is needed on EMT’s role prior to gathering all parties together.

Approximately three meetings are anticipated between now and the end of the year.  EMT Council representation is needed for this program.  The following members agreed to participate:  Fred Bobich, Randy Gutzmann, Senator Mary Olson and Hank Todd.

Minnesota Waste Wise is operated through the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and would be a good contact for this process.

Council members discussed how there are two different components to this program.  The first being the ecotourism/marketing promotion; the second being “best practices”/ways for hotels/resorts/restaurants, etc. to do better.  One way to promote the concept is to recognize leaders at the Tourism Conference.

Public Policy Committee Report - Lisa Paxton:

The Public Policy Committee developed an Outline for Council review.  The following changes to the document were recommended by the Council:

  • Change title of document from “EMT Public Policy Committee Structure Outline” to “EMT Public Policy Committee Guidelines.”
  • Remove the sentence “The Committee will not consider issues that benefit only one entity.”

Minutes from the May 7 meeting were distributed.  It has been determined that the Public Policy Committee can meet via telephone/conference call.  Voting can take place via conference call, but not via e-mail.

The legislative funding is headed in the right direction.  It is critical to have hearings in the legislature and have constituents contact their representatives.  Council should always think big.

Travel Leadership Summit - John Edman:

Last year, Minnesota sent eight delegates to the Travel Leadership Summit in Washington, DC.  This year’s Summit will be held September 26-27.  The Public Policy Committee recommends that Minnesota continue to participate and schedule appointments, however a dinner sponsorship was not recommended.  The following members expressed interest in attending this year:  Hank Todd, Bonnie Carlson, Rob Buntz, Senator Mary Olson, Greg Ortale (or a representative from Meet Minneapolis).  Additional information will be provided to Council.

Discover America Partnership - John Edman:

Discover America Partnership is an effort to coalesce the United States tourism industry into one voice and help national policy makers understand travel and tourism’s diplomatic and economic significance.  The ultimate strategic goals of this program are to have the tourism industry of the United States become a powerful and respected voice in national policy that may affect tourism and increase international visitation to the U.S.  The biggest issues include:  visa issues, homeland security and marketing the United States.
States have been asked to pledge to financially fund this umbrella organization.

Council members agree that a national tourist board is needed and Minnesota should support.  Suggested contribution from the State of Minnesota is $5,000.  No motion necessary.

Organizational Partnership Program - Colleen Tollefson: The Task Force has met to discuss the Organizational Partnership Program and a new innovative program.  Explore Minnesota Tourism went through regional associations to determine representation for this Task Force.  At a previous meeting, the Council recommended that the current partnership program continue, but another program be introduced.  The new program should be innovative.  The new Innovative Partnership Program was developed to offer eligible organizations an opportunity to try an innovative marketing approach to increase travel to their destinations.  Applicants must be Minnesota non-profit organizations formed for the primary purpose of tourism promotion or having tourism marketing as a major component of their programming.  The program covers projects conducted in the calendar year 2008.  The process will include a pre-application which will be due in September.  Actual application deadline is October 2.  Funding level of partnership will be a minimum of $10,000 and maximum of $30,000.  There will be no limit to the number of applications an organization can submit.  Awards will be based only on scoring.

Comments from the Council include:

  • Needs to be clear on the legislative match incentive.
  • Is 10 points enough to award the portion of fitting into EMT’s goals?
  • Add measure to track effectiveness.
  • Evaluation page needs to be changed to 6-10 projects.
  • Need criteria for grading.
  • Would it be worthwhile to add examples

A motion was carried to adopt the new Innovative Partnership Program.  The Council agreed that Explore Minnesota Tourism should try it for one year and evaluate it at the end of the year.  Upon completion of the evaluation, recommendations may be made to the Council.  Motion was made by Rob Buntz and seconded by Greg Ortale.  All members in favor.  Motion carried.

Pre-Marketing Awareness Research - Pat Simmons: Telephone interviews were conducted between March 7 - 17, prior to the launch of the media campaign.  Questions were asked to determine consumer awareness of Explore Minnesota Tourism and My Favorite Minnesota advertising; intended travel to Minnesota; perceptions of travel/activities associated with Minnesota; intended and actual website visits and website behavior.  The advertising objectives of this campaign are: to increase awareness of Explore Minnesota Tourism; drive traffic to the website; increase newsletter subscriptions; generate inquiries; and increase the number of resident and non-resident travel.  For comparison purposes, surveying will be done again in Fall 2007, Spring 2008, and then on an annual basis.

A Request for Proposals was sent out for a Regional Positioning Study.  The purpose is to determine how the state is being presented and marketed to the consumer.  A vendor has not yet been selected.  Project is scheduled to be completed by the end of October.

Marketing Update - Leann Kispert: Television is currently running in all Minnesota markets, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, LaCrosse, Eau Claire, Thunder  Bay and Winnipeg.  Madison television spots will be added July 1.  The spots are staggered and run through September.  Worked with Mall of America to air the TV spots on the new plasma screens throughout the Mall for six weeks.  Webisodes are online on YouTube, Yahoo Video and other video sites.  Receiving numerous media inquiries regarding the webisodes.

Half-page insertions continue in AAA and Midwest Living magazines.  Full-page ads were placed in the Sunday editions of the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Winnipeg Free Press, Des Moines Register and Sioux Falls Argus Leader.  Direct mail was sent to 275,000 recipients at the end of April.  One version promoted fishing, the other general family fun.  To date, nearly 33,000 reply cards were returned for the kits.  Paid online searches with Google and Yahoo have been extremely strong - averaging 3,000 hits per day.

Partnering with the Minnesota Zoo, in conjunction with the opening of their new Minnesota Trail scheduled to open in early July.  Numerous cross-promotional activities will be occurring throughout the summer.  Continue partnership with the Minnesota Twins.  This partnership provides radio exposure throughout most of Minnesota and in-stadium promotional opportunities.  Current agreement expires at the end of June, but may extend the agreement.

Minnesota hosted Active America in May.  This included 43 Japanese tour operators and 75 suppliers from throughout the country.

A Two Nations Familiarization Tour will take place the week of June 18.  Operators will be coming from nine different states.  Participation was capped at 40.

Website Update - Michele Peters: An updated version of the website will be released early next week.  The site will now include houseboats and outfitters.  A new host will be on board in the near future.  Web traffic has increased:  from April to May of 2006, a 2 % increase in traffic was noted; from April to May of 2007, a 30% increase in traffic occurred.  More than 100 consumers have added their lists to “My Favorite Minnesota.”  The first project of Phase II is to have mapping available.  The golf and scenic byways sites will be integrated onto exploreminnesota.com.  Will begin to explore reservation systems on the web.  All website advertising has been brought internal.

Explore Minnesota Tourism has been working on Travel Minutes.  This is a 60-second radio spot that airs each weekday.  If you have an event, destination or attraction, please provide content to Michele Peters.

Border Crossing Issues - John Edman: A planning session will be held in the fall to determine what is needed to cross the border.  Council members interested in attending should contact John Edman.

Organizational Assessment Survey - John Edman: A survey has been sent to approximately 3,000 lodging, camping, attractions and tourism industry representatives asking for their feedback on the services provided by Explore Minnesota Tourism.  This survey will be sent to the Council.

Strategic Planning Overview - John Edman: The session is scheduled to begin Tuesday, September 11 at 1 p.m. and will conclude at 12 noon on Wednesday, September 12.  Additional information will be sent to the Council.  May look at hiring an outside facilitator.