Black Meetings & Tourism - Minneapolis Is The Hottest U.S. Travel Destination

Industry Briefs
Minneapolis Is The Hottest U.S. Travel Destination
City Ranks on 133 Lists of Accolades in Past Year “Minneapolis is having a moment.” Travel + Leisure Features Director Nilou Motamed recently announced this fact on the *Today Show* on NBC as she included Minneapolis as the only U.S. destination on the world’s best list of 13 hot travel destinations in 2013. Motamed was not alone; in the past year, Minneapolis ranked highly on 133 lists of accolades that included outlets like Lonely Planet, Forbes, bon appétit, Food & Wine, CNN, Frommer’s, Yahoo and many more. Travel + Leisure readers consistently ranked Minneapolis high all year long in areas such as America’s Greenest Cities (#3), Best Airports (#1), Best Cities (#5), Cleanest Cities (#1), Most Intelligent people (#1) Cities with the Best Summers (#1) and Best Public Parks & Outdoor Access (#1), among others. In December, Lonely Planet, known for travel guides and information, named Minneapolis Saint Paul as its number 8 top U.S. travel destination in 2013. Shortly before that, Sherman’s Travel named Minneapolis as its number 2 Family Travel Destination to watch in 2013. Last fall, Yahoo! Travel named Minneapolis as an Unexpectedly Romantic U.S. City, in August, Forbes named it as America’s Safest City and *Bike Score, bicycling magazine and CNN Travel* included Minneapolis as the second best bicycling city. These are just the tip of the iceberg for the city that received high marks for everything from fitness to burgers and credit scores to playfulness. In January, Pollstar ranked Minneapolis in three areas: Target Center is #51 in their Arena Top 200 Worldwide Rankings; the Club Top 100 Worldwide Rankings included First Avenue (#5), The Cabooze (#40) and 7th Street Entry (#84); and the Orpheum (#16) and State (#87) theatres hit their Theatre Top 100 Worldwide Rankings. Not to be outdone, Target Field, the Minnesota Twins’ LEED-certified ballpark, is one of America’s best baseball stadiums, the Graves 601 Wyndham Grand is a top Midwest hotel and the Capital Grille was among the Open Table Top 100 Restaurants. As Motamed said, Minneapolis is clearly having a moment in the spotlight. “Minneapolis is shining brightly and will become an even more important destination as we add infrastructure like our new Minnesota Vikings stadium and Central Corridor light rail line between downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul,” said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO, Meet Minneapolis, Convention & Visitors Association. “We know that once visitors come here, they are three times more likely to return. That is easy to understand when you see the city ranking so highly on so many lists. People are taking notice.” All the aforementioned accolades and rankings can be found at http://www.minneapolis.org/media/facts-amp-research/accolades with links to each listing.

Industry Briefs

Minneapolis Is The Hottest U.S. Travel Destination

City Ranks on 133 Lists of Accolades in Past Year

“Minneapolis is having a moment.” Travel + Leisure Features Director Nilou Motamed recently announced this fact on the Today Show on NBC as she included Minneapolis as the only U.S. destination on the world’s best list of 13 hot travel destinations in 2013. Motamed was not alone; in the past year, Minneapolis ranked highly on 133 lists of accolades that included outlets like Lonely Planet, Forbes, bon appétit, Food & Wine, CNN, Frommer’s, Yahoo and many more.

Travel + Leisure readers consistently ranked Minneapolis high all year long in areas such as America’s Greenest Cities (#3), Best Airports (#1), Best Cities (#5), Cleanest Cities (#1), Most Intelligent people (#1) Cities with the Best Summers (#1) and Best Public Parks & Outdoor Access (#1), among others.

In December, Lonely Planet, known for travel guides and information, named Minneapolis Saint Paul as its number 8 top U.S. travel destination in 2013. Shortly before that, Sherman’s Travel named Minneapolis as its number 2 Family Travel Destination to watch in 2013. Last fall, Yahoo! Travel named Minneapolis as an Unexpectedly Romantic U.S. City, in August, Forbes named it as America’s Safest City and Bike Score, bicycling magazine and CNN Travel included Minneapolis as the second best bicycling city. These are just the tip of the iceberg for the city that received high marks for everything from fitness to burgers and credit scores to playfulness.

In January, Pollstar ranked Minneapolis in three areas: Target Center is #51 in their Arena Top 200 Worldwide Rankings; the Club Top 100 Worldwide Rankings included First Avenue (#5), The Cabooze (#40) and 7th Street Entry (#84); and the Orpheum (#16) and State (#87) theatres hit their Theatre Top 100 Worldwide Rankings. Not to be outdone, Target Field, the Minnesota Twins’ LEED-certified ballpark, is one of America’s best baseball stadiums, the Graves 601 Wyndham Grand is a top Midwest hotel and the Capital Grille was among the Open Table Top 100 Restaurants. As Motamed said, Minneapolis is clearly having a moment in the spotlight.

“Minneapolis is shining brightly and will become an even more important destination as we add infrastructure like our new Minnesota Vikings stadium and Central Corridor light rail line between downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul,” said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO, Meet Minneapolis, Convention & Visitors Association. “We know that once visitors come here, they are three times more likely to return. That is easy to understand when you see the city ranking so highly on so many lists. People are taking notice.”

All the aforementioned accolades and rankings can be found at http://www.minneapolis.org/media/facts-amp-research/accolades with links to each listing.