Tourism: Live Entertainment Boosting Greater St. Cloud Economy

UNDATED (WJON News) -- Last year was a good year for tourism in the St. Cloud metro area.

Rachel Thompson is the Executive Director of Visit Greater St. Cloud. She says 2023 was almost back to 2019 levels.

There were nearly 25,000 hotel stays booked based on events the CVB helped coordinate. She says the overall hotel occupancy was much higher.

A growing trend in the industry is a term called 'bleisure travel' which is when someone comes to town on business and brings a companion along with them. Because of that, a top visited page on their website is Quarry Park & Nature Preserve.

We are also seeing the live entertainment in Greater St. Cloud page, a broad listing that has a round-up of all the area music series as well as venues in the area - The Ledge, Paramount, Pioneer Place, we added Gnarly Bard.  We just have a lot of music offerings, so that's a page that's fun to see increasing over the last year.

Thompson says the Ledge Amphitheater is having a huge impact on the local economy.

We take a look at the summer of 2023 alone at The Ledge Amphitheater, we are seeing 58 percent of spend happening there from visitors outside our region, that's almost double from the year prior.

The Ledge opened in 2021 with the upcoming season its third full season of national acts.

Thompson says the Paramount Center for the Arts in Downtown St. Cloud is also running great occupancy and driving visitors to our region. This Friday, Nashville artist Aaron Tippin will be on the Paramount stage. There are only nine seats left for that show.

Visitors spend 64 percent of their dollars in St. Cloud, 18 percent in Waite Park, five percent in Sartell, and four percent in St. Joseph.

By category, visitors spend 38 percent on food, 35 percent on retail, 13 percent on gas, and 11 percent on accommodations.

Thompson says the top markets where people are coming from are Minneapolis, St. Paul, Willmar, Alexandria, and Fargo.

She says, as for trade shows, we are still a little behind on those mostly due to supply chain and workforce issues.

Get our free mobile app

Thompson says the CVB currently has $9.1 million worth of economic impact from events booked into the future, based on a conservative calculator of $150 per person.  They have 124 events booked for future years.

READ RELATED ARTICLES

• World Food Tour: Hernandez Burrito in Sauk Rapids 
• Big Scratch Off Lottery Winner in St. Cloud 
• First Former Johnnie to Play in the Super Bowl this Sunday 
• Unusually Early Start to Maple Syrup Season in Minnesota
• Why I'm Dancing for Quiet Oaks Hospice House in St. Cloud