LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

As we begin 2023, there is much to be excited about in Bloomington. We continue to see increased travel to our destination and remain focused on our efforts to inspire travelers to visit Bloomington. Although inflation and a potential recession have affected the American economy, we are cautiously optimistic that visitation to Bloomington will continue to rise and return to pre-pandemic levels.

Destination marketing continues to evolve, with new technologies and platforms emerging every day that bring many new opportunities for us to engage with our visitors. A major initiative planned for 2023 is a redesign of our current website, with much-needed updates to streamline engagement with users. A brand and logo refresh is also in the works, which we feel is timely in this competitive marketplace.

Our digital marketing continues to take center stage, and creative video content remains popular with consumers. Social media and influencer campaigns will also be an important tool for us to interact and connect with consumers while extending our brand.

A core pillar of our strategic plan is measuring the impact of the visitor economy through data insights to help us better understand consumers. Improving our understanding of visitor spend, actions, and demand remains important to optimize marketing strategies.

In the group meetings market, we continue to see positive signs of recovery, and we are ramping up our sales department to engage with these groups. Many changes have occurred within the group market within the last three years, and our focus will be to create new partnerships that target decision makers to bring meetings to Bloomington.

Amateur sports continues to be a great market for Bloomington hotels and will continue to be a key focus for us. We will also continue to support Minnesota Sports and Events as they bid for large city-wide sporting events for the Twin Cities and are excited about many new opportunities this year.

Lastly, we are hopeful that the United States will win the bid for the 2027 World Expo, which would be held in Bloomington. The decision will be made in June of 2023. Hosting such a major event would bring an influx of visitors to our destination and have a major impact on tourism in Bloomington for years to come.

As always, we are committed and proud to market the great city of Bloomington, our many hotels, and Mall of America to visitors around the world. We look forward to an excellent year ahead!

Bonnie L. Carlson, CDME President & CEO