Recent Travel Indicators

Travel Indicators | Visitation | Inquiries | Web Traffic | Spending | National Indicators | 2010 Campaign | Key Terms

Visitation & Hotel Occupancy

National Park Visitation

The graph below compares 2011 visitation numbers of South Dakota's 5 National Parks to visitation numbers 2010. With the incredibly nice weather and warm temperatures, visitation at all five National Parks were up in December.

For the most part, visitation was down at the National Parks for the year. This year, Minuteman Missile offered more tours than in 2010, helping to boost their visitation numbers. Jewel Cave saw the largest decline in visitors in 2011.

State parks saw their first increase in visitors in September when visitor numbers were up 2% over September 2010. The nice weather the past few months also helped state park visitation increase by 21% over Dec. 2010. For the year, state park visitation is down 8.8%.

 

 

Hotel Occupancy *

The hotel industry continues to recover from 2009, which was the worst year for the U.S. since the Great Depression. South Dakota hotel occupancy is down 1.4% through November while the U.S. occupancy is up 4.4% (occupancy is figured by dividing the number of rooms sold by the number of rooms available multiplied by 100).

South Dakota is only one of a handful of states who are experiencing a decline in hotel occupancy in 2011. This statement needs to be taken with a grain of salt as South Dakota had one its strongest years last year when the rest of the U.S. was struggling.

The following graphs highlight the percent change in hotel occupancy, room demand and room revenue for the four regions of South Dakota as well as some cities. Region 3 (Great Lakes) had a great November as three of the key hotel indicators saw an increase.

South Dakota Tourism is now able to track hotel data for specific cities within South Dakota.

The graph belows tracks the percent change in hotel indicators for South Dakota as a whole throughout the year.

For more information regarding these travel indicators please contact Ashley Worth at Ashley.Worth@state.sd.us or call 605-773-3301.