The Global Travel & Trade team is responsible for promoting South Dakota as a premier vacation destination to both domestic and international travel trade professionals (tour operators and travel agents). They use their expertise to educate and inform tour operators about South Dakota’s diverse tourism offerings, and to identify growth segments of the group tour market. The primary domestic focus of the team is attending trade shows, such as the American Bus Association conference, that have the most potential for delivering tours to the state. The team also attends international travel trade shows like IPW, the United States’ largest travel trade show; Brand USA’s Travel Week Europe; and hosts the International Roundup in our region every year.

As part of The Great American West (GAW) consortium, the Global Travel & Trade team partners with the states of Idaho, North Dakota and Wyoming to pool financial resources in the international market to gain larger exposure for the state and the region. GAW coordinates several travel trade missions every year to target tour operators in countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand. These missions consist of meetings where the team meets with dozens of tour operators to ‘sell’ the state. Travel South Dakota also contracts with firms that assist us with travel trade outreach in Canada.