2023-10-26 02:23:00
RAPID CITY, SD (OLD) –
It has been another great year for tourism in the Black Hills.
Visitors spent $1.1 billion in the Black Hills and Badlands from January to August this year.
The highways that bring tourists in are a main factor for a successful tourism season, but road construction projects might make a road trip more difficult.
Construction projects like U.S. Highway 385are discussed in groups and especially with tourism associations.
“Although it’s not too bad right now for the most part. It is 70 years old, 70 years old. What’s really driving this project is crash numbers. So, looking at comparisons, 385 to a similar corridor in South Dakota has twice numbers,” said South Dakota Department of Highway of Transportation area engineer, Rich Zacher.
The president for the Black Hills and Badlands Tourism AssociationMichelle Thomson said she sees the same positive trends for the 2024 fiscal year.
“We conduct peak campaigns that focus on the summer. We do shoulder campaigns and focus on the fall, the winter and the spring. And we’re also involved in a new Rally marketing cooperative, so we’re also promoting to encourage motorcycle touring in the Black hills and Badlands region, and for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rallies,” Thomson said.
The Black Hills & Badlands regional tourism industry supported more than 20,000 jobs in 2022.
“They bring together both big business and small business and share opportunities and information and things like the important tourism dates and presentations like this on the department of transportation projects that might impact travel,” said Black Hills Energy community affairs manager, Lynn Kendall.
2023 KOTA. All rights reserved.
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