South Dakota Tourism – Highlights

By Ken | January 23, 2009

I’m excited – There’s nothing like being around people that are part of a common goal and vision for their industry – It’s great to see tourism friends and hear their perspectives on how their year went, how they are planning for the next year, and especially how their family is doing back home.

Overall, the conference had some excellent speakers for the seminars. My favorites were Garrison Wynn, Beth Terry, and Matt Baily. They were professionals that lead the way by teaching and encouraging an open forum. They also, like any good speaker, had great quotes:

Garrison Wynn-”Foundation of Prejudice – People looking for things that are true, to prove that its true.” Building relationships are complicated, but vital.

Beth Terry – “The rising tide floats all boats (Guy Kawasaki)” South Dakota is refreshing to every visitor. Don’t forget the value we have and learn to share those values across the state.

Matt Bailey – “Find the pain” – People want answers to their needs, make your website be a simple and easy solution

Governor Mike Rounds spoke at the awards night gala and shared his optimism about the year to come and did a great job reminding everyone there, (about 1,000 maybe?) that no matter what the next year brings, our ability in South Dakota to push through hard times and achieve our goals has never wavered and will continue to be our strength in the upcoming year. The SD Deptartment of Tourism’s goal is “to increase visitor spending in South Dakota to 1.2 billion dollars by the year 2010″. This year we reached 967 million – up 2.8% over 2007.

The tourism conference was a breath of fresh air in a time when small businesses within the South Dakota tourism industry may worry about the upcoming season.

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