Chair’s Corner: February 2022

While the cold weather and Omicron surge has put a damper on things these past weeks, I see a great amount of positivity on the horizon. Based off the data provided, we may have already reached our peak with Omicron, and we are less than 150 days until Summer.

Minnesota’s legislative session opened on January 31. Our Public Policy Committee, Todd Hill, and Tony Kwilas do an amazing job monitoring our advocacy initiatives and working on our behalf. MACVB’s policy initiatives in 2022 include:

• Support of the supplemental budget request for Explore Minnesota Tourism
• Support Minnesota’s limitation of schools starting class prior to Labor Day
• Preserving the limited use of local option lodging tax to marketing
• Supporting uniform regulation and taxation for the industry

In addition, our organization is working with our industry partners on things like tourism improvement districts and replenishing the unemployment insurance trust fund and bringing the fund to solvency. The Walz-Flanagan administration recently released their budget initiatives which included replenishing UI. This is a great step, but we are a long way away from finalization and compromise amongst our legislative leaders.

As a strong voice in the tourism industry, we will monitor and advocate on behalf of our membership regarding our positions. However, we encourage our members to reach out to your local representatives to advocate on behalf of the tourism industry.

I am excited to see a lot of you at the 2022 Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference on March 1. As part of the conference, we will have the MACVB Silent Auction. I look forward to a successful conference and silent auction, and the opportunity to be with everyone who is attending.

I know we will have challenges in 2022, but I look forward to the opportunities that await all of us. We all have a strong voice advocating on behalf of our industry, and we have and will continue to make our industry strong.

MACVB Chair
Shakopee Chamber & Visitors Bureau