South Dakota's Tourism Skyrockets through Landmark Anniversaries and Events

US state South Dakota's tourism rose up, thanks to the states' two popular landmarks anniversaries that held great and exciting events. Local officials hopes the following year will be the same as well, said on a conference in Rapid City, the second largest city in South Dakota.

According to Times Union, the great milestone on the state tourism this year was because of the two famous landmarks anniversaries celebration that features the 75th the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and the 50th annual Custer State Park buffalo roundup. The said anniversary events attract and brought 739,000 visitors, while the buffalo roundup drew more than 40,000 people.

On the upcoming year, officials hope to see the same results on the two important anniversaries in 2016. The granite face of Mount Rushmore National Memorial will have its 75th anniversary and the National Park Service will also commemorate its centennial.

The Black Hills & Badlands Tourism Association's Vice president of marketing, Mike Gussiaas said "We can keep working harder and hopefully capitalize on that momentum. It's kind of perfect that we have the rally and roundup going into the 100th anniversary of the parks and Mount Rushmore's 75^th," the Rapid City Journal wrote.

The state tourism secretary, Jim Hagen also said they are they have raised the bar and they are excited for the result in 2016. He added that they have been promoting the 75th anniversary of Mount Rushmore for more than a year as well as the National Park centennial.

The State Tourism Secretary also mentioned that some major national publications are showing interest on their state. "What we're seeing at the end of the day is new interest in South Dakota from a lot of really major national publications where we've not been on their radar before, that's opening up a whole new audience for us." Hagen said. Prairie Edge Gallery's general manager, Dan Tribby also added the tourism industry needs treat tourists visitors well in order for them to come back.