Star Tribune
Tourism was up in Minnesota in 2023, putting state back to pre-pandemic levels of travel
Minnesota tourism rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, continuing a trend of growth in the important industry, according to projections released by the state’s tourism agency.
Explore Minnesota tracked about 77 million trips throughout the state in 2019. After a drastic pandemic drop and slow but steady recovery, officials counted about 76.6 million visits in 2022. The numbers represent trips taken by both Minnesotans and out-of-state visitors.
Explore Minnesota projects a 2% increase in the number of trips taken in 2023 over the previous year. The agency’s estimates show a modest increase in the number of visitors who traveled to and through central and southern Minnesota during the year and a slight decrease in the number of folks visiting the seven-county metro area and its northwest reaches.
The new study Explore Minnesota commissioned used geolocation data collected from smartphone apps between June 2022 and May 2023 — weeks before Taylor Swift drew tens of thousands to downtown Minneapolis and months before Caitlin Clark fever helped lead the Big 10 women’s basketball tournament to sell out for the first time in its history.
“We’re really excited,” Explore Minnesota Communications and Media Relations Manager Chris Morgan said. “We definitely anticipate and are hopeful to see a year-to-year rise.”
The Grand Casino in Mille Lacs County and Gull Lake were the top destinations for visitors to central Minnesota — each accounting for about 1 in 8 trips to the region. And in the metro area, nearly one-third of visitors went to the Mall of America.
The top destination in northeast Minnesota was Duluth and the Canal and Lincoln park areas. In northwest Minnesota, Lake of the Woods and Leech Lake drew the most visitors, while downtown Rochester and Treasure Island Casino were the largest draws in the southern region.
“We want people to not only visit one place in Minnesota but also to see the whole state,” Morgan said. “One of our missions is to bring eyes and tourists to all destinations.”
While the agency doesn’t control when major pop stars or blockbuster sporting events take over the metro, Morgan said Explore Minnesota mostly concerns itself over how to get folks to stay in the state once they’re already here.
“We know that events bring tourism,” he said. “We want to elongate those stays.”
Northeast Minnesota, which includes the North Shore and surrounding areas, saw a drop in traffic of about 6.4%.
Morgan hopes Explore Minnesota’s new “Star of the North” campaign will lead to further boosts in tourism across the state and for some of the regions that saw a downturn in travel. The state Legislature set aside $25 million for the effort, which Morgan said is meant to draw tourists to every region in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Explore Minnesota also estimates that people of color only account for about 11% of the trips taken in 2023. Black and brown vacationers have long worked to diversify outdoor spaces, regularly citing a lack of comfort in such places in predominantly white and rural regions of the state.
That’s why Morgan said the agency’s latest ad blitz is looking to make sure it “celebrates all of Minnesota’s diversity, cultures and its many heritages and communities.”
After all, Morgan said, the more people travel, the more money flows through local economies.
“When we have more visitors, the local businesses benefit, the bigger businesses benefit,” Morgan said. “The citizens of Minnesota benefit.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
