Tourism investment impacts economy
Visit Minot releases three-year results
Trending
Minot's investment into sports tourism has been paying off many times over, according to Visit Minot.
Stephanie Schoenrock, executive director for Visit Minot, reported to the Minot City Council Monday on the city's return from a three-year $477,000 investment into a Tourism Recovery & Resilience contract. The contract expires at the end of this year.
Schoenrock said Visit Minot had committed to a $10 million economic impact over three years from the larger sporting events, and the program exceeded that goal while spending just $382,032 of the allotted funds. The $10 million goal applied only to Tier 1 and 2 events in the Tourism Recovery & Resilience program. Those tiered events generated $12 million in economic activity over the past three years, Visit Minot reported.
To qualify for financial assistance through the Tourism Recovery & Resilience program, an event must have been new in the past three years or expanded by 30%. Events fall into one of three tiers and must meet at least two criteria in their tiers.
Qualifications for Tier 1 are:
- 75% of participants and guests must be from outside Ward County.
- a minimum of 1,000 hotel room nights must be booked.
- a minimum of 1,200 people from outside Ward County attend.
Qualifications for Tier 2 are:
- 75% of participants and guests must be from outside Ward COunty.
- minimum of 400 hotel room nights.
- minimum of 500 people from outside Ward County attend.
Qualifications for Tier 3 are:
- 65% of participants and guests must be from outside Ward County.
- minimum of 200 hotel room nights.
- minimum of 300 people from outside Ward County attend.
When all three tiers are included, the total economic impact was about $14 million over three years, Schoenrock said.
"This economic impact is new money coming to our community," she said. "While we call it a pilot program, we didn't believe at the time that it was a gamble, and I guess I can stand here today confidently telling you it wasn't a gamble."
In 2023, there were seven tiered events funded with $47,500, which generated more than $6.24 million in economic impact. They were N.D. Cowboy Hall of Fame, State USA Gymnastics, Athletic Empire Spring Showdown; Beaver Booster Basketball Classic, World Cup of Hockey, Junior Olympic Girls State Fastpitch and N.D. State Cal Ripken 9U.
Twenty-six other sporting events that were not funded this year, although some were in the past, added nearly $3.69 million in economic impact.
Schoenrock said Visit Minot used more funding in 2021 and 2022 than in 2023 as it sought to build capacity to carry on the program beyond the three years.
For 2024, Visit Minot has requested nearly $95,000 in unspent funds in the Tourism Recovery & Resilience program. Also in early 2024, both Visit Minot and the City of Minot plan to develop a new general service contract to replace an existing contract that dates back 30 years.