Courtesy Visit Duluth
Visit Duluth
21 West Superior St.
Duluth, MN 55802
800-438-5884 or 218-722-4011
www.visitduluth.com
What’s new: Three hotels are being proposed in the downtown area; two of them would be on the water and include marinas. Spirit Mountain will build a new chalet at the foot of its ski mountain that will include a year-round restaurant and dedicated meeting space. Last year Spirit Mountain added a miniature golf course and a zip line. Amsoil Arena opened 18 months ago; the arena is part of the bay-front Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. Amsoil has achieved Silver certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. A change in state law has escalated the development of breweries throughout the state, including in Duluth, where seven breweries or brew pubs are in the works; all but one is downtown.
Kudos: In April, Duluth was one of five metro areas lauded for its clean air by the American Lung Association.
Number of hotel rooms: Some 4,600 throughout the city; 1,300 committable rooms are within three blocks of the convention complex. Of those, 450 are attached by skywalk.
Location: Duluth is on Minnesota’s eastern border, about 2.5 hours north of the Twin Cities. Minnesota’s fourth- largest city (population 86,000), stretches 26 miles along Lake Superior.
Transportation: Duluth International Airport is 10 minutes from downtown with service to Minneapolis, Detroit and Chicago on Delta and United Airlines. Seasonal flights are available to Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., on Allegiant Airlines. Shuttle service is available between Duluth and the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. In the summer, a trolley operates in downtown.
Flood update
Visit Duluth’s President and CEO Terry Mattson told Minnesota Public Radio that heavy rains and flooding in the Duluth area June 20 damaged about 10 percent of the city’s roads and utilities infrastructure, mostly in residential areas, not places frequented by tourists.
“Most of the areas near Lake Superior, everything on the waterfront, Spirit Mountain, other places on the hill are all just fine as well as the major arteries,” he said. “We’ve been working with the general managers from all of the hotels, the restaurants, all of the attractions. Most of them got through the entire storm without missing a beat.”
Mattson said he doesn’t want to minimize damage some residents experienced, but he thinks the region’s tourism industry will be minimally affected by the flooding.
