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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — In a year in which 14.7 million tourists spent nearly $5 billion in the state, Tourism Secretary Jim Hagen on Tuesday highlighted figures from the Joint Committee on Appropriations.
The department receives no general funds. This funding comes from tourism promotion taxes, Deadwood Gaming funds, and in recent years has also received federal COVID-19 relief and ARPA funding. The tourism board’s planned budget of $34,640,166 for fiscal year 2025 is the same as Gov. Kristi Noem’s recommended budget. The budget is expected to include about $9.7 million in federal funding.
If the committee’s Republican member, Rep. Lance Coss, travels from his home in Mitchell to Rapid City for a meeting and stops at Wall Drug along the way, will he be considered one of those 14.7 million visitors? , he asked.
Hagen said Koss is considered a visitor because he has traveled at least 80 miles from his home. He said the 50-mile mark is widely accepted as the definition of a visitor.
However, the largest share of tourism revenue and the largest number of visitors come from outside South Dakota.
Republican Rep. Chris Cashin, a member of the committee, asked how many of the 14.7 million visitors came from outside South Dakota.
Hagen said approximately 74% are from outside South Dakota.
Out-of-state visitors who were exposed to South Dakota’s tourism advertising campaign logged $1.24 billion in credit card spending in the state, Hagen said. They are interacting with the ad, he said.
That’s just one element of marketing. Hagen said the department conducted about 40 marketing campaigns in 2023.
Areas with the highest number of out-of-state visitors include Minnesota, including Minneapolis-St. Paul. Paul area, Iowa, Illinois including Chicago, Colorado including Denver, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, parts of Arizona and other neighboring states.
Denver, Omaha and Minneapolis-St. Hagen said Paul is one of the cities targeted for regional Super Bowl game advertising on Feb. 11. Super Bowl advertising costs about $950,000, Hagen said. Regional advertising costs are much cheaper than national advertising, which costs about $8 million per spot, Hagen said.
Marketing results for 2023 included over 100 million unique users. Approximately 1 billion impressions were made. “In terms of impressions, this is easily a record for us,” Hagen said.
The marketing campaign, called Forever 605, surprised the department with the level of interest from outside the state.
The Forever 605 campaign encourages visitors and residents to travel respectfully, raise awareness of the state’s lesser-known places, preserve cultural heritage, shop local, stay on the trails, We focus on educating people about behaviors such as picking up trash.
Although the station did not intend to appeal to visitors generally, the connected TV campaign generated 900,000 searches for hotels and flights to South Dakota. He generated $11.6 million in hotel and flight bookings.
“We were actually surprised,” Hagen said of the results.
Paul, a Minneapolis-St. Louis resident from Milwaukee and Chicago, was particularly interested in the outdoor recreation campaign. The longest interest was in the Minneapolis-St. Louis area. Paul Market and Milwaukee Market. Of the visitors who came for the campaign, those from the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois stayed the longest, Hagen said.
The department works with partners on a variety of programs across the state.
One such program is Cooperative Marketing, where 14 cooperative partners contribute at least $40,000 to market their regions with the state, Hagen said.
Hagen said the joint marketing generated nearly 100 million responses.
Mr. Koss specifically asked whether the department helps Mr. Mitchell market events such as basketball tournaments.
Hagen said individual companies and partners choose the features they want to highlight. Mitchell said he is asking people to get involved in marketing pheasant hunting. However, the department may promote the event on social media.
The bureau tracks data on flight searches and booked tickets for out-of-state visitors.
In response to committee questions, Hagen said direct flights from South Dakota to Texas are important for marketing.
He cited Dallas-Fort Worth area residents who flew in to ski Terry Peak.
Airports are key to tourism, but so are roads. “It’s amazing how many people travel by car,” Hagen said. This includes visitors from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
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