The South Dakota Department of Tourism says the state bucked the national trend again last week and ranked 3rd for year-over-year domestic travel bookings.
Only Wyoming and Montana ranked higher.
According to Tourism’s latest COVID-19 Weekly Research Update:
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For the week ending August 8, national travel spending again gained two percentage points, but is still down -46% below last year’s levels.
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The share of respondents who say they are likely to travel by personal car during the next six months reached a new high of 73%. Respondents also shared that they are willing to drive further than previously stated, with 23% now willing to drive more than 500 miles one-way on a leisure trip.
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Travelers reported feeling twice as safe taking part in outdoor activities like visiting a state or national park (58%) as they would attending an indoors sporting event (26%) or indoor concert (25%).
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Travel spending in South Dakota was down -22% last week compared to the same time last year, surpassing neighboring states of North Dakota (-36%), Iowa (-40%), Minnesota (-50%), and Wyoming (-26%).
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There was a massive boost of website traffic and engagement on TravelSouthDakota.com last week with web sessions increasing 106% and page views increasing 100%. Much of this traffic is visiting the newly added Moving to South Dakota pages.
Tourism officials remind state residents 605strong.com is available to provide mental health assistance to people struggling due to the impact of COVID-19. If you are in need of assistance, call 211 to speak with a counselor. Asking for help is a positive step for you and those you care about to help with depression, anxiety and stress.
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