South Dakota tourism numbers holding steady in 2023 in spite of economic uncertainty

Jun. 30—MITCHELL — The tourism season in South Dakota may have started off slowly, but it's picking up steam as the summer progresses.

As visitors from across the United States filter into the state on their way to visit landmarks like Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, Falls Park and the Corn Palace, tourism officials are seeing numbers similar to or better than in 2022, and are optimistic about those numbers improving.

"I don't know for sure but I think — I just have a feeling and I can certainly be wrong — that we're going to have a good summer," Teri Schmidt, CEO of Experience Sioux Falls said ahead of the Independence Day holiday.

According to the Sotuh Dakota Department of Tourism, 14.4 million visitors traveled to and within South Dakota in 2022, when they spent $4.7 billion, which was an increase of about 8% over 2021. Tourism generated about 11% of all state sales tax collections, and generated $361 million in state and local tax revenue.

A report from Travel South Dakota and the South Dakota Department of Tourism titled

2023 Travel Outlook and Consumer Sentiment,

which contains statistics from as recent as February, indicated that despite fears of a potential economic recession at the time, travelers were regaining their excitement for leisure travel, but had concerns about their retail, entertainment and recreational spending on those trips.

Since the consumer sentiment report, the economy has stabilized somewhat, and the comparatively economical choice of visiting South Dakota and other Midwest outposts remains an attractive vacation option, said Ernie Goss, a professor and regional economist at Creighton University in Nebraska.

Travelers are in a position to travel if they're so inclined, he said.

"You've got individuals that are still well-positioned in terms of cash. They have the money. On the negative side, they have a lot of debt, over $17 trillion nationwide," Goss told the Mitchell Republic. "(But) they have a cash position coming out of COVID-19, and they're spending it on services such as tourism."

Goss said South Dakota is a state more often visited by people traveling by car rather than by airline, which is a good thing in this economic climate. Consumers may find paying for gas a more economical choice than flying, and airline travel remains inconvenient for many travelers.

That bodes well for stops in Sioux Falls, Mitchell and the Black Hills, which are on the Interstate 90 corridor.

"Individuals are turning more toward automobile travel, which of course aids places like the Corn Palace and Mount Rushmore or going to Sioux Falls instead of New York. It has more of a positive impact for South Dakota," Goss said.

Some tourist destinations can confirm that visitation is comparable to preceding years, if not a little better in some instances.

Doug Greenway, director for the Corn Palace in Mitchell, said 2023 has seen an slight uptick in visitors at the local attraction after a downturn in 2022. He said visitation was down about 25% in 2022, and current numbers indicate a pace right at or above that in 2023, up about 3% from this time last year.

Greenway said the Corn Palace has seen 145,911 visitors to date this year, compared with 145,000 at this time in 2022. A total of 153,570 visitors stopped by the Corn Palace in 2021 by this time of year, but only 93,969 had stopped in 2020, a year that took a big hit due to the pandemic.

Despite gas prices being higher than travelers would like, Greenway said the overall rebound from COVID-19 continues thanks in part to the Corn Palace being an easy stop along the interstate as visitors travel from east to west. More afforadable lodging and food in South Dakota help offset any spikes in gas prices or other expenses.

"Most people stop on their way west. They're westbound and pull off the exit on their way to the Black Hills or going to Yellowstone, and people are in good moods. Our (hotel costs) are still reasonable in South Dakota, and food prices are reasonable." Greenway said. "There is a lot of upside in coming to South Dakota and not other states."

Sioux Falls is also seeing numbers hold steady with perhaps an uptick in visitors compared to last year at this time.

"So far we're seeing good numbers. Our hotel numbers are good, in fact they're showing an increase over last year," Schmidt said. "The count at Falls Park and the Visitor Information Center are equal to last year. And we're anticipating city-wide to continue to grow through the summer because of the events and things going on during the summer."

Experience Sioux Falls estimates about 3.5 million travelers visited Sioux Falls in 2022, which was down just slightly from 2021. But people still want to travel, she said, and Sioux Falls has a lot to offer.

"We have the air show coming up, which is always strong, and there are a lot of concerts and events throughout the community, and people like to come and do things," Schmidt said.

If travelers want to get out on the road, they will, Schmidt said, and they plan their spending on vacation accordingly. South Dakota is known for its low cost of living, and that translates well to people visiting the state. That alone is enough to make the state worth a visit to take advantage of places like Sioux Falls, the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore.

"We're an affordable state, and then you add to that the pluses South Dakota offers. There's no question that we're a good place to visit. People plan ahead, they know typically where they're going to stay and what they're going to do and they add those pennies, as they should," Schmidt said. "They know what they can spend and what they're going to spend it on, and South Dakota offers affordability."

On the other end of the state, the Black Hills and Badlands Tourism Association is seeing a similar trend. Michelle Thomson, president of the association, said tourism numbers are holding fairly steady compared to last year, although it is early in the season and hard to make any definitive predictions.

The western region of the state has been seeing a good number of passengers stepping off planes to visit the area, she said.

"The airport is way up. People are getting on planes and coming here," Thomson said. "But some (hotel occupancy is) down, some are up, and some are flat. But we are seeing a lot of visitors."

The Black Hills has several selling points that make it a stop on many vacationers' itinerary. The rugged landscape offers an enchanting gateway to the greater west, and national monuments like Mount Rushmore and a strong reputation for camping and outdoor activities like hiking and rock climbing bring out a variety of visitors.

"We are a great destination for people of all ages and families certainly because we have so many amazing attractions that draw them in for summer vacation. We have six national parks and monuments, and they have been a really big draw since COVID-19. People are trying to get to those wide-open spaces and get out and appreciate their national parks," Thomson said.

Mount Rushmore is one of the most well-known tourist attractions in the state, seeing about 2.5 million visitors from around the country each year. So far in 2023 officials have seen an increase in visitation compared to this time last year.

"We've heard about the broader economic impact (on travel), but we're not seeing it reflected in visitation at this time," said Earl Perez-Foust, program manager for interpretation and education with the National Park Service based at Mount Rushmore. "We update our stats every month, and as of the end of May we were actually up 2.5% from last year. At least initial reports say the number of people is actually increasing."

Mount Rushmore is the kind of tourist attraction that inspires repeat visitors, he said. Parents who visited the monument in their youth often return for a visit with their own children. And officials are always looking to add features to enrich the visitor experience, such as ranger talks and programs on the indigenous community.

In some ways, those factors help Mount Rushmore weather economic times that may impact other tourist destinations negatively.

"This is on their bucket list. We hear from people who say they were here 40 years ago as a kid, and they're almost always here with the next generation. People who were here the first time come back and share it with them. People come here to make memories," Perez-Foust said.

Of course, there's more summer ahead. June and July tend to be the busiest months in terms of visitors for Mount Rushmore and July 2022 alone saw a half million visitors show up, which accounts for about a fifth of all visitation during the year. He expects it will be similar this year.

"It's hard to overstate the excitement that comes with being at this location," Perez-Foust said.

After a slow start to the season, South Dakota state campgrounds are reportedly picking up in activity as the summer season and weather set in.

Jeff VanMeeteren, director for the Division of Parks and Recreation for South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, said the annual Open House and Memorial Day weekends in May saw great participation and set an optimistic tone for the rest of the summer.

"We had a great couple of weekends. The fishing has taken off across the state, especially on the Missouri River, and now it's starting to pick up on Oahe and the fishing has been incredible at Lake Sharpe and Lake Francis Case," VanMeeteren told the GFP commission in June. "Hundreds and hundreds of people were fishing out there and they were catching a lot of fish."

Many of those taking advantage were out-of-staters, he said.

"It's fun to stand next to people cleaning fish and hearing their comments. They are so appreciative of the facilities we have that quite honestly they don't have in their own states quite often," VanMeeteren said. "We also saw a real turnaround in our park entrance license sales. We just needed to get some good weekends, and we got that."

He noted that the state hosted 13 more camping cabins for overnight visits and 160 more campsites so far in 2023 over 2022 and had a 91% occupancy for camping cabins for the Open House weekend. That increased to nine more camping cabin nights and 192 more campsite rentals in 2023 for Memorial Day weekend.

"We had 97% camping cabin occupancy and 98.7% campsite occupancy (for Memorial Day weekend). When we get to 98%, we're essentially full," VanMeeteren said. "We're talking less than 100 open sites across the entire state of over 4,000 campsites. That's pretty incredible."

It was a needed shot in the arm for the Division of Parks and Recreation. After a slow start to the season, primarily brought on by poor weather, the numbers for May, which is the most recent data the division has available, indicate a good season coming up.

Occupancy numbers are now at about 5% below what they were at this time last year, but the two big weekends in May cut that down from about 16%.

"We got off to a slow start with the weather, even the first part of May was pretty tough, but things are picking up now," VanMeeteren said. "We were 16% behind in April, but now we're only 5% behind, so we continue to cut that number down and our hope is June will come and we'll be able to turn a corner. So we're excited about that."

Goss said the wide appeal of states like South Dakota should continue to draw visitors thanks to its low costs, diversity of attractions, friendly people and relatively low crime despite some ups and downs in the economy. Those factors also play into why people live here in the first place, he said.

Visitors should also find those aspects appealing, he said.

"You're in the best part of the best nation on the face of the earth. Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota. You're in the best part of the nation," Goss said.