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New data shows number of monthly visitors to Minneapolis surpass pre-pandemic levels

The data comes from a nearly two-year study led by the Minneapolis Downtown Council.

MINNEAPOLIS — On a day as warm and sunny as Thursday, it's no surprise that people are flocking to patios and parks, especially in Minneapolis.

But there's new data showing that it's not just because of the weather.

The Minneapolis Downtown Council says a survey found that Twin Cities residents are feeling a renewed sense of vibrancy downtown and continue to visit.  

"I think it just shows there's this pent-up demand for these large, collective urban experiences that our downtown can help to enable," said the Minneapolis Downtown Council Vice President of External Relations Leah Wong. 

The study, which included voluntary participation by city and suburban residents every other month from May 2021 through November 2022, was sent to people within a 25-mile radius of the city. 

It showed the pandemic, protests and rising crime rates hit attendance rates hard. 

"I think it's hard for any city to lose critical mass in their city center, which is supposed to be the heartbeat of our region," said Wong. "But then what we also know is once they come back for those large, experiential moments, they're sensing the vibrancy, they're excited about it and they're coming back with more regularity."

Wong said sporting events and dining are really leading the change. In fact, last weekend alone, the Council reports there were 44 events including a Twins game, John Mellencamp concert and Hamilton performances.

"We want people to understand who aren't here that they're missing out, there's a lot going on," said Wong. 

The Council says the data shows downtown welcomed more than 8.6 million visitors for sports, concerts, entertainment and major events in 2022 — a 68.6% increase over 2021. In 2019, 9.4 million visited for similar events.

When looking at monthly data, the study showed city visitors to downtown rose to 70% in the last quarter of 2022, compared to a 64% increase from 2019. As for suburban visitors, city officials reported an increase of 44% in the last quarter of 2021 and an increase of 40% from 2019.

More people are also coming downtown each week for work. In February 2023, 63.9% of workers returned to the office in some capacity each week. That is a 56.2% increase over January 2022 and a 300% increase over January 2021.

"I think the data has helped us as we start to really position to listen to our consumers downtown," said Wong. "What are the experiences they need, what are the services they need downtown and how can we make sure we’re meeting people where they’re at."

KARE 11 asked Wong what she would say to people who have a different opinion and may suggest this data would be in the interest of the Council.

"First of all, we got all of our data from a third-party source to make sure we got honest and accurate data and our data has really focused on behaviors of people using downtown in terms of frequency," said Wong. "No one organization is going to rebuild or rethink downtown, the future of downtown is community coming together to think about what is the downtown that we all desire, want, deserve and how do we come together to do that."

Wong says creating moments is helping to build momentum that is continuing this year, as the city recreates a place to really serve everyone. 

"If you’re here and experiencing it, you have experiences to talk about to build upon and we know that’s really important," said Wong.

For more information and a full calendar of events for downtown, you can visit www.mplsdowntown.com or follow @mplsdowntown on Instagram or Facebook.

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