Rainy summer takes bite out of South Dakota’s tourism industry (Audio)

 

October 21, 2019

Mike Tanner

KWAT Radio News

 

WATERTOWN, S.D.—A wet summer had a major impact on South Dakota’s economy….from agriculture to tourism.

 

Jim Hagen is South Dakota’s Tourism Department Secretary. He says bad weather impacted the state right away this spring, and it never really got much better……..

 

 

But Hagen says the tourism industry was able to weather the storm….

 

 

Hagen says they shifted some promotional dollars around to adjust for the impacts of the weather….

 

 

Hagen says parts of the state were impacted more than others…

 

 

Hagen says visitor numbers to Mount Rushmore this summer were down about 13-percent from last summer.