The Economic Impact of the Great Lakes Aquarium

Abstract

Since opening in the year 2000, Great Lakes Aquarium (GLA) has become a popular destination in Duluth thanks to its educational programs and impactful exhibits. GLA attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city of Duluth each year. In 2024, the aquarium had over 225,000 visitors and is projected to have 230,000 by the end of 2025.

GLA provides economic benefits to the city of Duluth through its visitors from across Minnesota and beyond who spend money on food, lodging, entertainment, and retail items. In addition, the aquarium spends millions of dollars each year on utilities, animal care, exhibition construction, and other expenses that contribute to the local economy.

GLA contacted the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at UMD’s Labovitz School of Business and Economics to study and estimate the economic impact of the aquarium on Duluth in a typical year (using average spending and attendance from the past three years).

Of the aquarium’s more than 200,000 annual visitors, nearly 90% come from outside Duluth (the study area). Of all the visitors, 75% come from farther than 100 miles away and are likely to spend at least one night in the area. The research team estimated that overnight visitors spend an average of $168 per day, while day visitors spend $54 each day in Duluth.

In total, the research team estimated that nearly 200,000 aquarium visitors travel from outside of the study area in a typical year and that these visitors spend nearly $30 million in the area on lodging, dining, and other expenses. The largest share of spending came from visitors traveling more than 100 miles and staying at least one night.

In addition to impacts from visitor spending, GLA itself spends almost $4 million annually on its own operations. This spending goes towards wages, animal care, utilities, and other necessary expenses. The aquarium also spends roughly an additional half a million dollars in a typical year on special exhibitions and updating of galleries.

The research team used IMPLAN input-output modeling data and software for modeling the economic impacts of the aquarium on Duluth. The data used was the most recent IMPLAN data available, which is for the year 2023. All data were modeled in the year 2023, with all results shown for the year 2025.

According to the results of modeling, direct spending by GLA and its visitors added roughly $16.7 million of value to the study area, accounted for $27.9 million in output, created 306 jobs, and added roughly $10.5 million in labor income (wages and benefits) to the study area in a typical year. As a result of that initial spending, other industries in the study area were able to add 82 new jobs, along with $4.4 million in wages and benefits, $8.1 million in value added spending, and $15.1 million in output—the sum of indirect and induced effects—to the study area’s economy Overall, the Great Lakes Aquarium contributes nearly $43 million in output in a typical year.

The impacts of GLA are also shown through multiplier values. The impacts of the aquarium produced an output multiplier of 1.54, indicating an additional $0.54 is spent elsewhere in the economy for each dollar spent by GLA and its visitors. Multiplier values were found to be 1.27 for employment, 1.42 for labor income and 1.49 for value added.