The Tourism Center Fund supports our work helping communities use research, education and collaboration to guide local decision-making, drive marketing strategies, and inform policy and strengthen local economies through tourism.
Tourism
The Tourism Center empowers, prepares and supports the tourism industry, and communities engaging in tourism for success and sustainability. Below, find tourism-focused news articles, webinars and research reports to help inform and support your community.
News
Building better destinations: inside the work of the University of Minnesota Tourism Center
Tourism Center Director Xinyi Qian was a guest on the Growing Destinations podcast. Listen in as she talks about tourism challenges communities face, how the Tourism Center helps create sustainable and vibrant places, and the trends and shifts for Minnesota tourism.
Trends in leisure and hospitality employment
Check out our latest information on employment and wage trends in the leisure and hospitality industry in Minnesota. Dr. Fernando Quijano, our colleague in Extension's Department of Community Development, worked with the Tourism Center to create this piece.
Driven by what’s important to Minnesota tourism and outdoor recreation
Minnesota’s $16 billion tourism industry relies on research and education from the University of Minnesota Tourism Center. Our research and education stays relevant because we stay in touch with both the industry and communities.
How can we help your industry or community? Learn about our focus areas in the following section. Explore our research reports for completed community-led and partner projects.
Focus areas
Discover how our research-based education and programs help communities create and sustain local tourism experiences.
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Tourism has evolved as a development priority for many communities. It can enhance the local economy and foster the protection of local resources. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, residents and visitors alike have increasingly sought festivals and events that create community and provide unique experiences. The Tourism Center has a long history of assisting communities that want to develop or enhance tourism and festivals.
Our educators work with communities at all stages of tourism development to identify local assets, explore new ideas and create sustainable tourism efforts. Our Festival and Event Management (FEM) online course provides hands-on knowledge that strengthen festival organizers' skills in managing successful and fiscally sustainable festivals.
Learn more:
Outdoor recreation is a growing sector of the United States economy. The outdoor recreation economy accounted for 1.9% of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the United States in 2021. Inflation-adjusted GDP for the outdoor recreation economy increased 18.9% in 2021, compared with a 5.9% increase for the overall U.S. economy.
According to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) recently signed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development, Forest Service, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) on supporting the nation’s outdoor recreation economy, building the recreation economy in the United States is one of USDA’s top priorities. The Tourism Center has been working diligently at community, state, and national levels to help Minnesota communities leverage the benefits of the growing outdoor recreation economy.
Projects and research examples
Equitable access to recreation at Lake Superior (EARLS): Exploring perceptions, constraints, and opportunities among Minnesota’s Black population — Funded by MN Sea Grant, this project explores barriers to outdoor recreation along Lake Superior's North Shore among Black and African American population in Minnesota. In collaboration with UMN's Department of Forest Resources and community partners, the project team has assessed current visitation inequities to public lands along the North Shore and conducted focus groups with Black and African American residents in Minnesota.
Partnering to build an entrepreneur-friendly community curriculum for the outdoor recreation sector — Funded by the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) and led by Ohio State Extension, this project will update and adapt an Extension curriculum that coaches communities to become entrepreneur-friendly for the outdoor recreation sector. The project started in July 2024 and is anticipated to complete by September 2025.
Driftless Hiking Trail — Funded by the Empowering Small Minnesota Communities program, the project helps the proposed Driftless Hiking Trail in Southeast Minnesota work with the MN Department of Natural Resources and engage communities along the proposed Trail.
Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) proposal — The Tourism Center participated in a LCCMR proposal, led by Extension's Department of Youth Development. The proposal has been recommended for funding. The two-year program aims to nurture youth's pro-environmental behaviors through outdoor education so they feel connected to and engaged with nature, and empowered to take action to conserve and preserve its resources. If approved by the 2024 Legislature and signed into law by the governor, the project would begin in September 2024.
Participation in the National Extension Outdoor Recreation Working Group — the National Extension Outdoor Recreation (NET) network, of which Tourism Center Director Dr. Qian is the current Chair, hosts an outdoor recreation working group. In spring 2024, Dr. Qian led the effort to revamp its Outdoor Recreation Economy & Cooperative Extension factsheet (PDF). A companion webpage was also created.
Help your community and local businesses get data and information on your visitors. The Tourism Center employs a variety of approaches, from traditional survey methods to mobile analytics, to gather consumer intelligence as appropriate.
Learn more:
Projects and research examples
Economic impact of visitors in Cook County, Minnesota — Using mobile analytics data for visitor counts and leveraging Visit Cook County's access to visitor spending data, the Tourism Center and Extension's Senior Economic Impact Analyst estimated the economic value visitors bring to the economy in Cook County.
Economic impact of the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Team Trials and associated events in Minnesota: 2024 — Led by Extension's Senior Economic Impact Analyst, we worked with Minnesota Sports and Events, lead local organizer of the team trials and associated events, to conduct an economic impact analysis of the events.
Agritourism is most simply defined as where agriculture and tourism meet. Over the past few years, the Tourism Center built and maintained a statewide agritourism workgroup with comprehensive representation from state agencies, non-profit organizations that serve producers, and on-campus entities that support agritourism. Workgroup members actively leverage each other’s expertise and resources across the country to serve agritourism operators in Minnesota.
Learn more:
- Agritourism: where agriculture and tourism meet
- Agritourism fact sheet
- State of agritourism in Minnesota fact sheet (based on 2017 Agricultural Census data)
- Promoting wine tourism in Minnesota
Project and research example
Renewing the Countryside — the Tourism Center and our Extension colleagues have been working with Renewing the Countryside on a project funded by the Farmers Markets and Local Foods Promotion Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This two-year project provides education, evaluation, and technical assistance to a cohort of eight selected on-farm events across Greater Minnesota.
About us
We have been strengthening Minnesota tourism for more than 30 years. Our partnerships extend our work to all 87 counties in Minnesota and beyond.
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In 1987, the University of Minnesota Tourism Center was created. That same year, Curtis L. Carlson made an initial gift to establish the Carlson Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Chair. This gift inspired additional gifts from more than 130 tourism industry supporters.
Over the years, projects supported with Carlson Chair funds have made an impact in every Minnesota county and tourism sector. As a result of our research and educational efforts, social, political and cultural capital has increased across Minnesota.
An experienced, passionate, and knowledgeable industry advisory committee drives our success. Advisory committee members provide insight and ideas related to applied research, education and engagement. The 22-member committee represents the depth and breadth of the industry in Minnesota. Each member is an individual with a passion for, and commitment to, the tourism, travel or hospitality industry.
Tourism Center affiliates bring additional expertise in areas that impact the tourism industry. They are faculty, researchers, and professional staff in multiple disciplines across the University of Minnesota system. Their academic areas of interest align with Minnesota’s tourism industry and the mission of the Tourism Center.
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