Minnesota tourism office launches $3.7M campaign

Minnesota is hitting the airwaves in 12 states and two Canadian provinces to try to lure more visitors to Minnesota.

The Explore Minnesota Tourism office, will spend $3.7 million on the TV campaign over the next three months, aiming to convince people to spend more time and money in the state, which has a $12 billion tourism industry.

John Edman, director of the tourism office, said it aims to increase that figure to $20 billion by 2020.

"It's going to be a lot of heavy lifting," he said. "We're going to have to bring a lot of non-resident travelers, keep the residents traveling in Minnesota. There's a lot of work left to do."

Edman said the advertising campaign is needed because other states, like Wisconsin and Montana, also are actively seeking tourists.

"People in Minnesota, as you know, are being inundated with ads from Montana, from Wyoming, from South Dakota and from Wisconsin," he said. "If they didn't see the opportunities and the things we had in Minnesota, Minnesota would not be a preferred destination and we want to make it a preferred destination in those markets that are most likely to travel to the state."