The Industry Outreach, Development and Research team is responsible for providing support and assistance to the communities and businesses within the South Dakota tourism industry. This team proactively travels the state to provide industry members with information about cooperative programs, marketing campaigns, consumer trends, marketing research and the latest updates from the Department of Tourism. They make it their goal to help industry members plug into the department as much as possible.

In addition, the team is responsible for organizing industry outreach events such as the annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism. They assist communities with destination development initiatives within the four key niche areas of agritourism, sports tourism, outdoor adventure tourism and tribal tourism. The team also oversees the state’s Interstate welcome centers and the hiring and training of the seasonal staff who work in them. Finally, the team is engaged in consumer research that assists the marketing team as they make decisions about target audiences and markets. The team also oversees the annual economic impact studies that demonstrate tourism’s impact on South Dakota’s economy.