Tourism Posts

Duluth deserves better than a mismanaged tourism marketing contract

Dec 02, 2024 1 Comment

Canal Park image with wrong AI

The city of Duluth is at a crossroads with its tourism marketing. After years of underwhelming performance from an out-of-town marketing firm, city leaders promised a better process and outcome this time.

City mismanagement, however, undermined that commitment. A poorly-planned and hastily-executed request-for-proposal process, confusing guidance and unnecessary delays have left Duluth with a troubling outcome: A recommendation to hire another out-of-town agency with no knowledge of the city’s tourism industry and significant client conflicts to lead Duluth tourism marketing for the next two years.

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News and Current Affairs, Politics

Duluth Mail Bag: Tourism Taxes, Bike Lanes and Bonding

Sep 27, 2023 1 Comment

Hobbs Mail BagAs a two-time Duluth city councilor, now in my final year of service, one of my goals is to make city government more accessible, or at least help citizens become more informed. I figure there are many Duluthians who would like some simple answers to some simple questions. I learned in school that if there is something you don’t understand it’s likely there are many others who feel the same way. Hence the idea of the Duluth Mailbag column.

I won’t divulge who is asking the questions, but I’ll answer them in this format about once a month. Feel free to put a question in the comments for next month’s “Duluth Mailbag” or tweet me via @Hobbs_Duluth or email me at hobbsforduluth @ gmail.com.

Also, if you want to have a longer conversation, you can sign up for a 45-minute cup of coffee through my 100 Cups of Coffee project.

Apologies for the delay in this column, I’ve been chasing Springsteen across the country and watching the Twins clinch the AL Central. OK, here we go!

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Politics , ,

Steamships from Buffalo to Duluth, 1901

Nov 18, 2022 3 Comments

This advert from Life magazine promotes trips from Buffalo through Chicago and Milwaukee to Duluth. I found it on the Internet Archive.

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History , ,

Cruising the Great Lakes with Dan Kraker, MPR

Nov 09, 2022 No Comments

Minnesota Public Radio’s Dan Kraker talks about the Great Lakes cruise ship industry.


News and Current Affairs, Videos ,

Thoughts about the new ad campaign

Apr 17, 2022 3 Comments

The new campaign to increase tourism for Duluth had, I guess, a “soft open” this week, covered in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and on Fox 21.

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News and Current Affairs

Hanseatic Inspiration cruise ship plans two Duluth stops in 2020

Jan 04, 2020 No Comments


News and Current Affairs , ,

Duluth planning for passenger cruise ship stops

Aug 28, 2018 1 Comment

The Duluth City Council and Duluth Economic Development Authority have approved funding to help establish a temporary customs facility to allow Great Lakes cruise ship passengers to disembark in Duluth.

As Minnesota Public Radio reports, “Duluth is not expecting massive oceangoing cruise ships the size of small cities to drop anchor in its harbor,” but instead is looking for smaller adventure cruises “that can accommodate up to about 200 passengers, plus another 100-plus crewmembers.”

MPR: Duluth as a cruise stop? With City Council vote, it’s one step closer


News and Current Affairs , ,

Whatever happened to Frisky the Bear?

May 07, 2018 No Comments

Indianapolis Star — June 7, 1959

Anyone remember old Frisky, promoter of Duluth as the vital player in the new St. Lawrence Seaway?

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History ,

Does Mayor Ness realize that the tourism tax is taxing the residents of Duluth?

Mar 24, 2014 61 Comments

Today in the Duluth News Tribune there is an article about our mayor wanting to bring back a .5 percent tax on our restaurants, hotels, and other amenities. My question is how do we as citizens of Duluth then get exempted from that tax? Should we not go to our local restaurants? Should we not go to Canal Park and support our local businesses?

This just seems unfair to those who live here to have us pay an extra tax to use our own local amenities. I’ve read that we pay very high taxes in our community compared to others, which made me wonder why we don’t get cards to exempt us from “tourist” taxes. This tax would go for the next 15 years and fund development of West Duluth. Well, that’s great, but what about us here in the Endion area? I can see taxing the hotels to get the tourists, but taxing restaurants makes me want to take my local money elsewhere.

I don’t think it is fair to those of us who live here, and if this is a push by our mayor there should be a way to exempt anyone who has a local identification.


News and Current Affairs, Politics , , ,

What’s all the fuss about AimClear and Visit Duluth?

Oct 26, 2011 20 Comments

Like with parenting and other stuff I write about, I understand just enough about social media, search engine optimization and search engine analytics to be dangerous. But I think I might understand more than the marketing “gurus” at Visit Duluth.

Marty Weintraub is a nationally (internationally?) sought out speaker and consultant on every kind of web marketing that you can imagine – Social Media, Keyword Search, Ad Placement, and so on. He also, apparently, loves Duluth. So he did some research on how the community is being marketed online and produced a study for free to give us all some food for thought on how Visit Duluth is spending its (tax generated) budget and if it couldn’t be optimized to deliver better results in the digital age.

Did $10 Million In Destination Marketing Make Duluth Famous?

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