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.
Helping communities realize the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of tourism and outdoor recreation
Message from the director
The past year was momentous for the Tourism Center. We expanded our agritourism work, deepened our efforts in outdoor recreation, and sustained our community tourism development work, despite staffing challenges. As highlighted in the projects showcased for each of our three priority areas, partnerships are essential to the work we do.
Simply put, the Tourism Center’s work would not be possible without our partners across Minnesota.
I invite you to view the select projects highlighted for community tourism development, outdoor recreation, and agritourism. From applied research to programming, and from outreach to engagement, the Tourism Center continued to deliver positive impacts for both communities and the industry in 2025.
In late 2025, the Tourism Center began updating its strategic plan. I want to give a special shout-out to our Advisory Committee, the members made significant contributions to the strategic plan update process. I also like to thank our Extension colleagues who contributed to the process.
Here, I share with you, with pride and excitement, the Tourism Center’s 2026-2030 strategic plan, including our updated mission statement and new vision statement. This is the roadmap that will guide our work during the next five years. It will enable us to focus, empower us to continue building partnerships, and afford us the flexibility to proactively respond to emerging trends.
I look forward to an even more impactful 2026, in partnership with you all.
Thank you!
2025 priorities
On this page
Community tourism development
Tourism has evolved as a development priority for a growing number of communities. The projects showcased here demonstrate how the Tourism Center and our colleagues work with communities and across the state to create sustainable tourism efforts.
Project showcase
Learn more about our tourism development projects below.
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Funded by the Empowering Small Minnesota Communities program and working with the Currie Area Revitalization Enterprise, this project facilitated a community engagement and applied research effort to identify and prioritize potential future projects, with the goal of increasing commerce and tourism, revitalizing infrastructure, and creating recreational opportunities.
Watch this short video that highlights survey findings from the project.
Funded by the Minnesota State Legislature, this program was created in partnership with Hospitality Minnesota and other industry partners across the state. Free of charge to Minnesota residents, this asynchronous online program provides frontline workers in the tourism and hospitality industry with basic skill-level customer service training.
The Tourism Center has been working with Dr. Elton Mykerezi, faculty of applied economics at the University of Minnesota, and a graduate research assistant on how Generative AI can be thoughtfully leveraged for community tourism development. This work has led to the creation of a series of byte-size learning materials for communities and small businesses to get acquainted with GenAI and to explore its meaningful use in community tourism development.
Watch this short video for a primer on the content.
The Tourism Center partnered with the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership (MCAP) to deliver a breakout session that shared localized climate projections for Minnesota, discussed regional and seasonal climate impacts, adaptation strategies, and implications for tourism and outdoor recreation destinations across the state.
Outdoor recreation
Outdoor recreation is a growing sector of the U.S. economy, contributing to 2.8% of the state's GDP in Minnesota. The select projects below showcase the breadth of the Center’s outdoor recreation work at state, regional, and national levels.
Project showcase
Learn more about our outdoor recreation projects below.
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This applied research project examines constraints, experiences, and access to water-based recreation along Lake Superior’s North Shore among Minnesota residents. View project findings so far and read an article about the project.
Funded by the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development and led by Ohio State Extension, this project adapted Ohio's Building Entrepreneur-Friendly Communities (BEFC) curriculum for the outdoor recreation sector. Free of charge and publicly available, the curriculum helps communities become entrepreneur-friendly in the context of the growing outdoor recreation economy.
Watch an introductory video about the curriculum, read a two-page case study of the collaborative project, and access the entire curriculum.
The Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDCs) recently conducted a demographically representative household survey in their respective regions. The Tourism Center created an interactive dashboard that summarizes and compares data from the suite of outdoor recreation questions in the survey.
Check out the dashboard for a rare opportunity to compare regional and state-level data — and see how Minnesota stacks up against other states near and far!
Watch this short video that highlights the key dashboard features.
Funded by the Empowering Small Minnesota Communities program and in partnership with our Extension colleagues, this project involved strategic support for collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and facilitating conversations in the communities that the Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail will traverse.
Agritourism
Agritourism is most simply defined as where agriculture and tourism meet. The Tourism Center started and expanded a few initiatives for our agritourism work, in partnership with colleagues from across Minnesota.
Project showcase
Learn more about our agritourism projects below.
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In 2025, the Tourism Center launched a quarterly agritourism newsletter, in collaboration with its partners across the state. The newsletter is for anyone involved in or curious about agritourism: current and aspiring hosts, agricultural professionals, local officials, tourism partners, and anyone else at the crossroads of Minnesota agriculture and tourism.
In each issue, you’ll find:
- Practical tips and how-tos for running a successful agritourism operation
- Policy and regulation updates
- Tools and resources
- Events and networking opportunities
- Insights and stories from other Minnesota farms
The Tourism Center co-hosted the second Agritourism Exchange, an annual professional networking event for current and aspiring agritourism entrepreneurs, with Minnesota Farmers Union on Nov. 13. The event brought farmers and industry partners together at Redhead Creamery to exchange ideas, share resources, and build a community around agritourism.
Check out an Extension article about the event and an Agweek article reporting on the event.
The Tourism Center delivered a webinar on agritourism on Nov 18, as a part of the Explore Minnesota fall continuing education series. The webinar highlighted trends and developments of agritourism in Minnesota and discussed strategies that destination management organizations can use to support agritourism operators and promote agritourism in their communities.
Watch the recording if you missed the live event!
This is a living, breathing folder. More resources will be added to this folder as they become available.
We strongly encourage you to send us agritourism-related resources that you’d like to share, so this folder can grow into a one-stop place that supports our agritourism businesses.
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Reviewed in 2026