Minnesota’s Top 40 Tourist Destinations by Attendance
Celebrating the North at the Saint Paul Winter Carnival. Photo courtesy of Brandon Werth Photography

Minnesota’s Top 40 Tourist Destinations by Attendance

For the first time in eight years, Explore Minneapolis has compiled a list top tourist draws in Minnesota. The list reflects attendance levels in 2017.

For Minnesotans and out-of-towners, the loves of shopping, sports and the outdoors drive more people to explore the state of Minnesota than almost anything else.

That’s according to state tourism agency Explore Minnesota, which on Wednesday released its list of the top 40 attractions in the state based on visitor counts. The ranking reflects 2017 figures, and is the first time the agency has compiled such a list since 2010.

Leading the pack by far was the Mall of America, which drew 40 million people over the course of the year. Chain of Lakes Regional Park in Minneapolis and Como Park in St. Paul also proved to be strong draws, taking the second and third spots on the list, respectively.

“These attendance figures are impressive. They contribute to Minnesota’s $15.0 billion tourism economy in a big way, and support jobs all over the state,” said John Edman, director of Explore Minnesota, in a statement. “Minnesota offers an endless array of things to see and do, and this list goes to show that people are exploring our state’s great indoor and outdoor attractions.”

Of the 140 attractions that provided attendance figures, these were the top 40:

Rank Destination City Number of Visitors (2017)
1 Mall of America Bloomington 40,000,000
2 Chain of Lakes Regional Park Minneapolis 7,063,500
3 Como Park St. Paul 5,367,400
4 National Sports Center Blaine 4,100,000
5 Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park Minneapolis 2,782,800
6 Mississippi Gorge Regional Park Minneapolis/St. Paul 2,734,300
7 Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center & Park Duluth 2,526,322
8 Xcel Energy Center St. Paul 2,200,000
9 Target Field Minneapolis 2,131,787
10 Minnehaha Park Minneapolis 2,051,000
11 Minnesota State Fair St. Paul 1,997,320
12 Grand Casino Hinckley Hinckley 1,810,550
13 Nokomis-Hiawatha Regional Park Minneapolis 1,800,400
14 Grand Casino Mille Lacs Onamia 1,406,904
15 Elm Creek Park Reserve Maple Grove 1,385,800
16 U.S. Bank Stadium Minneapolis 1,351,289
17 Minnesota Zoo Apple Valley 1,300,000
18 Phalen Regional Park St. Paul 1,259,800
19 Target Center Minneapolis 1,200,000
20 Lilydale-Harriet Island Regional Park St. Paul 1,122,800
21 Hyland Lake Park Reserve Bloomington 1,056,700
22 Walker Art Center Minneapolis 1,035,328
23 Gooseberry Falls State Park Two Harbors 831,374
24 Minneapolis Institute of Art Minneapolis 782,663
25 Fort Snelling State Park St. Paul 699,709
26 Science Museum of Minnesota St. Paul 668,714
27 Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store Jordan 650,000
28 Hennepin Theatre Trust Minneapolis 590,897
29 Minnesota Children’s Museum St. Paul 561,400
30 Surly Brewing Minneapolis 561,380
31 Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Chaska 560,000
32 Itasca State Park Park Rapids 545,483
33 Tettegouche State Park Silver Bay 472,470
34 Mississippi National River & Recreation Area St. Paul 436,734
35 Cabela’s Owatonna 405,000
36 Split Rock Lighthouse State Park Two Harbors 400,922
37 Guthrie Theater Minneapolis 400,000
38 Jay Cooke State Park Carlton 385,070
39 Interstate State Park Taylors Falls 375,058
40 Temperance River State Park Schroeder 303,358

Explore Minnesota spokesperson Erica Wacker notes that past versions of the list did not include regional parks. This time it did with many such spaces cracking the top 40.

Wacker suggests Como Park and Chain of Lakes Regional Park beat out other parks in the state due to their proximity to Minnesota’s urban core and their unique offerings. (Como Park includes a zoo and conservatory, while Chain of Lakes offers trails, rentals and frequently holds events.)

“They’re kind of the places that come out when you’re maybe not familiar with Minnesota [and] coming for the first time,” says Wacker. “They’re free, they’re open daily [and] year-round, so all those factors could contribute to high visitation.”

It’s worth noting that destinations on the list followed their own rule of measuring attendance. For instance, U.S. Bank Stadium and other concert or sports venues counted visitors by ticket sales, as state parks went by camping reservations and day passes. Malls, on the other hand, monitored its visitors at entrances, and so on.

With the majority of the top 40 attractions falling in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Explore Minnesota also provided top five destination lists for Greater Minnesota tourism regions.

These regional popular sites were:

Northeast

  1. Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center & Park, Duluth
  2. Grand Casino, Hinckley
  3. Gooseberry Falls State Park, Two Harbors
  4. Tettegouche State Park, Silver Bay
  5. Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, Two Harbors

Central

  1. Grand Casino Mille Lacs, Onamia
  2. Sibley State Park, New London
  3. Lake Carlos State Park, Carlos
  4. Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area, Crosby
  5. Maplewood State Park, Pelican Rapids

Northwest

  1. Itasca State Park, Park Rapids
  2. Lake Bemidji State Park, Bemidji
  3. WE Fest, Detroit Lakes
  4. Buffalo River State Park, Glyndon
  5. Sanford Center, Bemidji

Southern

  1. Cabela’s, Owatonna
  2. Mayo Civic Center, Rochester
  3. Minneopa State Park, Mankato
  4. Flandrau State Park, New Ulm
  5. Whitewater State Park, Altura

Looking ahead, Wacker notes the next list Explore Minnesota produces on popular tourist attraction could look fairly different given other yet-to-open projects, such as Allianz Field in St. Paul. While there is no set date for the next survey, Wacker suggests it would probably not be eight years. Before 2010, the lists tended to drop every two or three years.

The total tourist count could likely rise, as well. Meet Minneapolis reported that at 33 million visitors, the Twin Cities 2017 tourism figures alone set a second annual record for the area, and Explore Minnesota itself declared summer 2018 tourism a promising success.