Minneapolis hotel revenue for June sets all-time monthly record, thanks to event-filled month

A busy month with a variety of attractions didn’t just reel in pre-pandemic-level revenue for Minneapolis hotels in June — it set an all-time monthly record.

Pride celebrations, the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials and other events brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to downtown Minneapolis last month, booking two-thirds of the city’s hotel rooms and generating a record $42.3 million in guest room revenue, according to Meet Minneapolis, the city’s convention bureau.

“We’ve made a very, very strong recovery,” said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis.

The metrics are welcome news for downtown, which is still struggling to bring workers back to the office and patrons to cafes, restaurants and bars.

June’s events netted more than $40 million in guest room revenue for the first time since October 2018. And the momentum has continued into July, with the expanded Taste of Minnesota event last weekend.

“Anecdotally, there’s a feeling that this is the best summer that we’ve had downtown in a long time,” said Adam Duininck, president and CEO of the Downtown Council. “It feels pre-pandemic, and to see the data back that up feels good.”

A year ago, Tennant said, downtown business leaders began concentrating on grouping major events together, such as Pride activities overlapping with the Taylor Swift concert at U.S. Bank Stadium, for example. June 2023 brought in $37.5 million in guest room revenue.

“We have not seen a strong return of business travel, which our community relied on during the pandemic,” Tennant said. “For us to be successful in the future, we need to have more weeks like we’ve had this year where we’re combining multiple major events.”

Downtown Minneapolis has been associated with a narrative that it’s unsafe for visitors. But event organizers said they successfully navigated security and safety issues last month.

“Many people have heard a lot of different things about Minneapolis,” Tennant said. “People ask the question, is it OK to go down there? We’ve answered those questions resoundingly.”

Here’s a quick breakdown of the major downtown events in recent weeks.

The events, held June 29-30, brought in an estimated 500,000 people, according to Andi Otto, executive director of Twin Cities Pride.

The two-day celebration has grown steadily since 2018, when it drew 200,000 visitors and generated $13.4 million in economic activity, according to a study by University of Minnesota Extension. Organizers said another study is planned for the 2025 event.

About 59,300 people attended the four-day event at Target Center during the last weekend of June, according to Minnesota Sports and Events. Visitors came from five continents and all 50 states.

The trials overlapped with Pride celebrations and the Promenade du Nord, a Parisian-themed street fair, during the week of June 23. That week alone recorded more than $11.6 million in total guest room revenue, the highest weekly mark of 2024 and the highest since the week of June 18, 2023, when Swift was in town, according to Meet Minneapolis.

No attendance figures were available for the Promenade du Nord, but said 60 artisan and food vendors attended, according to Minnesota Sports and Events.

The street festival attracted about 124,000 people over the July 6-7 weekend, according to spokesperson Blois Olson, topping last year’s attendance of 100,000.

Taste, which debuted in 1983 and has been held for years at various sites in St. Paul, was held at Nicollet Mall for the second year in a row. The 2024 edition doubled the number of food vendors and music stages from 2023.

The country music singer performed two shows at U.S. Bank Stadium June 20-21, drawing about 100,000 people to the downtown, according to Lisa Niess, the director of marketing for the stadium.