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CBS exposure brought bump in tourism inquiries
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FarkRAPID CITY -- TravelSD.com, the state of South Dakota's tourism Web site, saw a big jump in online inquires on Thursday, Aug. 9, the day that CBS News' Early Show and its weather anchor Dave Price broadcast from Mount Rushmore, state officials reported.
Compared with the average of the previous four Thursdays, online inquires were up 15 percent.
CBS' Dave Price broadcast live weather reports and other features from the Grand View Terrace at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Thursday. His backdrop was the Four Faces and hundreds of cheering South Dakotans.
In addition, TravelSD.com reported an 11 percent jump in traffic from Internet search engines whose users searched for the keywords relating to Mount Rushmore National Memorial on the day of the broadcast.
It's hard to tell whether those inquiries will translate into "heads on beds" in South Dakota motels and campgrounds, but the increased online traffic can't hurt. And 2007 has proven to be a good season for the state's tourism industry.
The state Tourism office said peak season inquiries are up nearly 18 percent, compared with inquiries in 2006. Automobile traffic at the state's 13 information centers along the interstate highways was up 10 percent in May and June, compared with the same months of 2006. In July traffic was up 6 percent.
And various Black Hills venues have reported higher numbers as well. For instance, Badlands National Park is up 9 percent January to July over the same period last year. Jewel Cave National Monument is up 3 percent, and Wind Cave National Park is up 2.4 percent.
Private sector venues are reporting strong numbers as well. Bear Country USA's Mike Casey reported that car counts were up 8.6 percent in May, 10.5 percent in June and 5.8 percent in July, compared with the same months of 2006. Through the summer, traffic at Bear Country is up 8.2 percent over 2006, and up 1.5 percent from 2005.
The exceptions are Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Devil's Tower National Monument. Devil's Tower was down about 6 percent through the first seven months of 2007.
Rushmore's July numbers are not compiled yet, but chief of interpretation Judy Olson reported that visitation is down a bit this summer. And like many venues that normally see motorcyclists during the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally, the memorial saw fewer bikes this year than in past years.
Through the end of June, visitation at Mount Rushmore was down about 6 percent compared with the same period of 2006.
And gasoline prices, a concern to the tourism industry in recent years, seem to be falling across South Dakota, according to AAA South Dakota. The average price statewide was $2.963 this week, compared with $3.259 on July 16.
In Rapid City, prices continued to fall as well. Some local stations were selling gasoline as low as $2.749 per gallon. Others were in the $2.859 range. Last year at this time, gasoline was still above $3 per gallon here.
In addition the exposure from CBS News' Early Show, the Black Hills has received a number of other free publicity hits this year. Part of the movie, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" was filmed at Mount Rushmore. The film will hit theaters this summer.
USA Today this week carried a front page photo of the 777 Ranch near Hermosa. And Skywest Magazine, the inflight publication for the Utah-based regional affiliate of United Airlines and Delta Airlines, extensively features the Black Hills in its July-August issue. The 12 pages of editorial coverage were wrapped around a feature by Deadwood-based freelance writer T.D. Griffith.
Contact Daly at 394-8421 or at dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com
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