Many people in the Grand Rapids area play an important role in attracting and serving visitors to Grand Rapids. According to Explore Minnesota and Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development: tourism brings $75,799,245 and over 1,500 jobs to Itasca County. In Minnesota, tourism is an $15.3 billion industry that generates more than 270,000 jobs and makes up for 11 percent of private sector employment. Travel generated $2.5 trillion for the U.S. economy in 2018 across all U.S. industries. Tax revenue from travel spending for federal, state and local governments totaled $171 billion in 2018. Without these travel-generated tax revenues, each household would pay an average of $1,340 more in taxes every year to maintain the same level of services.
In Itasca County there are two destination marketing organizations that market outside of the Grand Rapids/Itasca County area to attract visitors to vacation here. These organizations are the Edge of the Wilderness Lodging Association and Visit Grand Rapids. Both organizations are primarily funded by a three percent local option lodging tax collection.
The Edge of the Wilderness Lodging Association (EOWLA) consists of 11 northern Minnesota resorts, motels and campgrounds. The EOWLA is a 501 (C) 6 non-profit entity governed by a three-member board and has two part-time staff. The Edge of the Wilderness Lodging Association region in northern Itasca County consists of Stokes Township, Marcell Township, Bigfork Township, City of Bigfork, the City of Effie, and voluntary collectors in an adjoining unorganized township. Generations of families and vacationers come to Minnesota’s Edge of the Wilderness Resort Area each year to bask in the ambience of our tall pines and hardwoods, the cool, clear lakes and rivers, the clean fresh air, and our warm and inviting hospitality.
The Edge of the Wilderness Lodging Association primarily utilizes digital and print advertising campaigns to attract visitors to their region. They are a partner in the Edge of the Wilderness Discovery Center in Marcell and they collaborate with the Edge of the Wilderness Business Association, Edge of the Wilderness National Scenic Byway, Northern Itasca Joint Powers Board, Explore Minnesota, Visit Grand Rapids, and others on their efforts to market the Edge of the Wilderness area. The EOWLA has been and continues to be extremely successful in using the local lodging tax to leverage and obtain additional grants to increase funding for marketing efforts. The EOWLA website: edgeofthewilderness.com is the main source of online information for lodging and things to do in the Edge of the Wilderness Resort Area.
Visit Grand Rapids (VGR) is the destination marketing organization that was formed in 1983 to market and promote the Grand Rapids area to attract new visitors. The mission of the organization is to generate a positive economic impact through travel and tourism. The organization has a 501 (c) 6 non-profit status. VGR has two full-time staff, and a nine-member board who oversees the organization. One of the largest target markets for potential visitors to the Grand Rapids area is the Minneapolis/St. Paul area (according to the 2015 Itasca County Visitor Profile Study). VGR conducts primarily digital destination marketing to attract new visitors but does a variety of traditional marketing as well. VGR also does strong search engine optimization, paid search, and paid social advertising. The VGR website is one of the largest marketing investments because today’s travelers web and mobile searches are the way that people find inspiration to travel and book their vacations. The website and all digital advertising is fully optimized for mobile. “The future of the travel marketing is the use of augmented reality (primarily through video) and artificial intelligence (like Google Home or Amazon Echo). As these become more mainstream, the pricing will make this type of marketing more available to small destination marketing organizations,” shared Megan Christianson, Executive Director, Visit Grand Rapids. This site is also a great resource for locals that are looking for things to do in the Grand Rapids area is: visitgrandrapids.com.
For more information about the National Travel and Tourism Week check out: