Where do tourists spend their money? According to visitor spending data from the South Dakota Department of Tourism, a dollar spent by a tourist is almost as likely to be spent in the southeast corner of the state as it is in the tourist-focused west, home to the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore and the Badlands.
About 38 percent of visitor spending (including the roughly 25 percent of South Dakota tourists who are from the state visiting another area) goes to the western “Black Hills, Badlands and Lakes” region, while 37 percent goes to the less imaginatively named “Southeast Region.” The northeastern “Glacial Lakes & Prairies” region gets 15 percent of money, while the center of the state along the Missouri River reservoirs — the “Great Lakes” region — gets just 8 percent of total visitor spending.
(Infographic by David Montgomery based on data supplied by the South Dakota Department of Tourism.)
