13.5 million visitors to South Dakota spent a record setting $4.4 billion– yes, billion– in 2021.
State Tourism Department Secretary Jim Hagen released the numbers today (Jan. 19, 2022) during the annual tourism conference in Pierre. Hagen says those visitors added $2.9 billion to the state’s economy.
Hagen says tourism supports over 54,000 (54,208) jobs in South Dakota, but filling those positions has been challenging.
Hagen says the interest in Agritourism and Tribal Tourism keeps growing.
Hagen says South Dakota was officially the first state to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels of visitor spending.
The annual study done by Tourism Economics also shows:
- $2.9 billion contributed to South Dakota’s GDP, representing 5.1% of the entire state’s economy
- $345 million generated by tourism and travel in state and local tax revenues
- $184 million collected by local governments
- $980 in annual taxes saved by South Dakota households
- $323 average amount spent per trip, up from $282 in 2020
- 5.2 million hotel room nights booked by travel and tourism
- 1.2 million room nights booked on AirBNB or Homeaway from January through October, a 33% increase
- 8.3 million visitors to state parks, a 3% increase
- 2.3 million visitors to Custer State Park, a 12% increase which surpassed 2020’s record 2 million visitors.
South Dakota Tourism Department Secretary Jim Hagen reveals 2021 travel and tourism impact numbers during a lunch at the annual Tourism Conference in Pierre. (Jan. 19, 2022)
Photo credit DRG Media Group.
South Dakota Tourism Department Secretary Jim Hagen reveals 2021 travel and tourism impact numbers during a lunch at the annual Tourism Conference in Pierre. (Jan. 19, 2022)
Photo credit DRG Media Group.
Photo credit DRG Media Group.
Photo credit DRG Media Group.
Photo credit DRG Media Group.
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