PIERRE - A major motion picture sequel is driving record numbers to the state's tourism Web site, www.TravelSD.com.

"National Treasure: Book of Secrets" was released in December and since then, site traffic at the South Dakota Tourism site has been booming, according to Richard Benda, secretary of the Department of Tourism and State Development.

"Since we launched a page on :National Treasure: Book of Secrets," traffic on our site has jumped significantly," Benda said.

"More than 80 percent of the people who visited the site had never been to www.TravelSD.com," he added. "We're optimistic that a good percent of those first time visitors will be back."

The site has been visited by people from nearly every state in the United States and 51 foreign countries. The United States recorded the most visitors with 3,826 page views, followed by Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Australia, Italy and Japan. There were also visitors to the site from as far away as Estonia, Israel, Ecuador and Indonesia. "You can't pay for this kind of exposure," Benda said of the film, which prominently features scences of Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills.

In the U.S., nine states recorded more than 100 page visits from residents of their state. The states with the highest number of visitors were: South Dakota, California, Minnesota, Texas, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin. Also, cities that showed a particular interest in the promotion were Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Minneapolis, New York, Houston, Denver, London, Madrid and Dallas.