New Revenue Record for Tourism in South Dakota
Tourism in South Dakota hasn't just rebounded to pre-COVID levels, it's surpassed them.
According to an analysis by Tourism Economics, visitor spending in South Dakota reached a record high of $4.4 billion in 2021, with the majority of visitor activity taking place in Minnehaha, Pennington, Lawrence, Brown, and Custer counties, which combined to make up 68% of all visitor spending last year.
The overall numbers show that every county in South Dakota saw an increase over 2020. The biggest gainers were Todd (44%), Pennington (40%), Meade (39%), Lawrence (37%), and Buffalo (36%) counties.
According to the South Dakota Department of Tourism, 13.5 million people visited the state in 2021, which pumped $345 million in tax revenue and helped support 54,200 tourism-related jobs locally.