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The Minnesota tourism industry is concluding a hot summer season, despite the wet, cool start.
Business "is experiencing its fifth year of growth in a row," said John Edman, director of Explore Minnesota Tourism.
Edman, former director of destination marketing at Carlson, the global travel and hospitality firm, now promotes Bemidji and Bloomington instead of Berlin and Bali.
Nearly half of Minnesota lodging businesses said summer occupancy was up, and 58 percent cited increased revenue compared with last summer, according to a recent Explore Minnesota survey of 222 hotels, motels, resorts and other places to stay. Less than a quarter said revenue was down. Meanwhile, Smith Travel Research, an independent firm that is followed by the travel industry, reported stronger growth in Minnesota than in the nation overall in June and July, Edman said. Occupancy was 76.3 percent statewide compared with 73.6 percent nationwide. It is the first year Minnesota summer occupancy rates exceeded prerecession levels.
Minnesota survey respondents had a positive outlook for fall travel, with 40 percent of businesses anticipating higher revenue than last year.
The tourism agency had its budget increased from $8.4 million to $13.9 million for this year and next by the Minnesota Legislature. Now it is marketing the state through social media and other advertising as far away as Chicago and Denver. Tourists from afar tend to stay longer.
Urban Gardening Takes Root as summer Business for young people
The best little growth story of the summer is "Roots for the Home Team," the youth-operated salad stand at select Minnesota Twins games that has expanded to Kowalski's, the Wedge, Mississippi Market and other retailers.
Roots is the youth-staffed retail tip of a burgeoning urban-farming movement that employed about 425 low-income teenagers through nonprofits Urban Roots in Minneapolis (www.urbanrootsmn.org) and Youth Farm in St. Paul (www.youthfarmmn.org).
The student leaders include Mela Nguyen, Sergio Cerredondo and Ronisha Tolbert, who attend Henry High in north Minneapolis. They oversee gardens, teach youngsters, concoct recipes and harvest several tons of tomatoes, raspberries, cabbage, kale, peppers, cucumbers, carrots and herbs. Some food is donated to nursing homes and food shelves.
"I like how the staff and youth work together, and I do love to garden," Tolbert, the creator of the Kickin' Quinoa Salad, told me a few weeks ago.
Susan Moores, a St. Paul-area businesswoman and dietitian, started Roots several years ago to loop together urban gardening, improved nutrition in inner cities and a retail business. She's attracted corporate sponsors and enlisted the Minneapolis public schools to serve Roots salads.
Moores plans to spend the winter signing up more sports venues, stores and restaurants. As the teens grow the food, sell it and see it made into tasty salads, they make a wage from a green job that didn't exist a few years ago and deliver a quality, nutritious product to satisfied customers.
"It's incredibly rewarding for me to hear the youth talk about how Roots has helped them see achievement in themselves and a greater sense of possibilities for their futures," Moores said. "They have so much talent and they see that many people and companies are interested in them … and they gain more confidence and realize that there are opportunities for them."
The corporate partners include Twins Community Fund, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Land O'Lakes, JustBare Chicken, the McNeely Foundation, Co-op Partners Warehouse, WestBend Insurance, Chef Bill VanStee, St. Paul College and the Patterson Thuente law firm.
More information: www. rootsforthehometeam.org.
SHORT TAKES
• A new online economic development tool, U.S. Cluster Mapping, shows the nation's top industries by region so that business and government leaders can work together to help industries succeed in the global market, according to the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Lee Munnich, a Humphrey senior fellow, did an analysis of the top industry clusters in the 12-state Midwest region, based on employment specialization and market share.
"The Midwest remains the breadbasket of the world, but these cluster maps show that we're much more than that," Munnich said. "All 12 Midwestern states specialize in production technology and heavy machinery manufacturing, providing the capital goods required for a productive economy. The goal is to get these industries the skilled employees, infrastructure and policy they need to compete in a global economy. These new cluster maps really set the table for those discussions."
The Humphrey School is launching the U.S. Cluster Mapping website at a regional conference on Sept. 29 and 30.
More information: strib.mn/1pkHoUK.
• A conference at Hamline University Wednesday looks at how Minnesota business, regulators and communities can deal with increasing oil and natural gas transportation through the state. The conference is organized by the Environmental Initiative (www.environmental-initiative.org), which brings disparate interests together to find common ground. There is a fee. Reservations at 612-334-3388, Ext. 100.
• Steve Case, the investor and founder of AOL and his partners, including Google for Entrepreneurs, are coming to the Twin Cities on Oct. 7 as part of the second "Rise of the Rest Road Tour." The event spotlights start-up communities in the heartland. The five-city, 1,800-mile bus tour also will stop in Madison, Wis.; Des Moines, Kansas City and St. Louis.
Case, interested in promoting entrepreneurs outside Silicon Valley, and his compatriots will visit business incubators and host a competition among fledgling companies. One presenting company in each city will receive a $100,000 investment from the Case crew. More information and the Case statement at: www.riseoftherest.com.
