Downtown Minneapolis seeing more monthly visitors than before pandemic, study shows
MINNEAPOLIS -- Downtown Minneapolis officials say the heart of the city is seeing more visitors now than it was before the pandemic.
The study, conducted by the Minneapolis Downtown Council, asked city and suburban residents about their downtown visiting habits every other month from May 2021 through November 2022.
Seventy percent of respondents in the city were visiting monthly by the end of 2022, up from 64% in 2019. Likewise, 44% of suburban residents reported monthly visits, compared to 40% in 2019.
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Perhaps more encouragingly, 86% of city residents and 76% suburban residents said downtown was "more vibrant" than their last visit, the council reports.
The council said downtown saw 8.6 million visitors for events in 2022, a 68.6% increase over 2021, but short of the 9.4 million event attendees in 2019.
The area is also seeing more and more workers return, according to the council, with nearly 64% of workers returning to the office in some capacity every week as of February.
