June 12, 2020

Happy Friday, Industry Partners!

Here is the COVID-19 Weekly Update. 

A few things worth noting this week:

• American travelers’ feelings about their health, finances and travel safety continue to improve.
• More Americans report they are already traveling or ready to travel.
• 70% will take at least one leisure trip in the remainder of 2020.
• Safety considerations are still important to travelers’ decision-making, from which destination they choose to visit to the hotels they select
• The majority of American travelers continue to opt for beach, outdoor and rural type experiences for their next leisure trips.
• Travelers continue to express the most comfort in traveling by personal vehicles.
• Travel spending in the US grew for the sixth consecutive week as states and cities continue to reopen and lighten restrictions on travel.
• States that normally see a high concentration of international travel continue to lag behind more rural and outdoor destinations.
• Website traffic to TravelSouthDakota.com increased 46% over the prior year once again indicating the potential demand for South Dakota offerings this summer and fall.

Thank you to our research partners for providing this information: Tourism Economics, Destination Analysts, STR, U.S. Travel Association, Arrivalist, Miles Partnership, MMGY Travel Intelligence, ADARA, and Longwoods International.

Please keep in touch with us and let us know what you are seeing for visitation and how you are doing. We are so eager to see you in-person one day soon. If we can be of any assistance, please reach out. You can contact me at [email protected].

All our best,
Jim & Team

Jim Hagen
Secretary of Tourism