Stephanie Schoenrock

Tourism numbers that were down in 2025 have served as motivation to work hard and make adjustments to attract visitors to the Minot area, Visit Minot Executive Director Stephanie Schoenrock told the Minot City Council Monday, Jan. 5.

“Tourism is down in the United States. Tourism is down in North Dakota, and tourism is down in Minot slightly,” Schoenrock said. “The state as a whole saw a 6.5% reduction for the entire year. Minot saw a 6.7% reduction.”

The top five tourism markets in North Dakota saw reductions ranging from 3-17%. At 6.7%, Minot ranked second lowest of the five.

“While I’m happy we’re ranked two, we have expectations that we’re here for a reason, and that is to bring more humans into Ward County. And so, I can tell you, that is not lost on us, regardless of what the trends are like in the state,” Schoenrock said.

North Dakota reported a 25% reduction in Canadian traffic, and Schoenrock listed Minot’s decline at about 20%. Traffic is measured not just by border crossings but also by web traffic, social media, hotel reports and ticket sales.

“The State Fair has been the number one driver for Canadians,” Schoenrock said.

Holding the decline to 20% also is a credit to the relationships built with Canadians over decades that keeps many wanting to come despite political circumstances, she said.

There were 4,810 visitors who signed the guestbook at the Visitor Center from January through November. The center tallied 31 counties, and by July 1, all 50 states were represented. Top states were Minnesota, Texas, California, Florida and Montana.

Data show the visitor impact on business is strongest with stores selling clothing, shoes, cosmetics and sporting goods, Schoenrock said.

“Each one of those categories all have over 40% of their credit card spend from people outside of 50 miles. Restaurants (non-fast food) and discount stores are at 31%,” she said.

Visit Minot registered $11.1 million in estimated economic impact from 37 sports tournaments in 2025. The number of tournaments was up by three, but economic impact was down by about $2.5 million due to smaller tournaments. Visit Minot is working with partners to regrow those tournaments in the future, Schoenrock said.

Visit Minot’s report to the council stated it partnered with 33 conferences and conventions last year, but it noted growth in this segment of tourism is constrained by convention facility availability.

Schoenrock added artificial intelligence (AI) has dramatically changed the way consumers find websites, and Visit Minot has had to adjust content as a result. Website traffic was flat, but there was an uptick at the end of 2025 because of website adjustments, she said.

Visit Minot constantly monitors all data because getting tourism numbers back on track won’t happen by landing a big tournament or large event, Schoenrock told the council.

“We’re working on those, too,” she said, but added change will come from “refining every segment that we work on.”