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Hagen Talks State Of SD Tourism Industry

You may listen to this conversation in its entirety here:

Lori Walsh: You might not be able to travel right now, as Americans are being asked to stay home in a nationwide effort to slow the spread of Coronavirus. And travel has undeniably fueled the spread of the virus, but just like we flip through seed catalogs in the winter, surely we can dream and even plan for the places we'll go in the future. Jim Hagan is secretary of South Dakota's Department of Tourism. He joins us for a look at the impact of COVID-19 on the travel and arts industry here at home and hopefully he'll remind us that our great places are waiting for us on the other side of a pandemic. Jim Hagan, welcome back. Thanks for being here.

Jim Hagen: Good afternoon, Lori. How you doing?

Lori Walsh: I'm doing all right. How about you? Healthy?

Jim Hagen: Yeah, we're healthy.

Lori Walsh: Good.

Jim Hagen: That's a blessing, but yeah, things are, it's been a tough 10 days for this entire world, our country and our state. No question.

Lori Walsh: Let's talk about that early financial impact. What are we seeing happening already and how far out can we predict the impact?

Jim Hagen: Yeah. Boy, it's tough. In fact, just this morning I've been on the phone or emailing back and forth with about a half dozen industry members and throughout the last couple of days I've had contact with dozens every day. It's really tough out there in the tourism industry. I just was on the emailing back and forth with a hotelier this morning and he's had to let go almost all of his staff this morning. He's never had to do something like that before. And yeah, it's just, it's really, really tough. Nationwide, same thing. We're not alone. I mean every state, every city is facing, are facing, the same challenges. We're taking it day by day.

The one thing is, you just alluded to is, we know we're going to get through this crisis at some point. When we look back at past pandemics, like swine flu, H1N1, there was a huge pent up demand for travel once we got through that pandemic and that crisis. And we're seeing the same thing here too. It's just having to deal with the immediate and not knowing how long that immediate is going to last. But we are planning for the future. We can't forget about that. But dealing with the today is tough.

Lori Walsh: Tell me how the state has shifted its messaging as far as really promoting travel in South Dakota.

Jim Hagen: Yeah, that's such a great question. So we early, right away as this crisis was hitting, we worked with a number of partners who are out serving constantly on a daily basis, really trying to assess the sentiment of travelers throughout the country, and we've been doing the same. So we're seeing that sentiment shift. It's shifting every day actually. So people at first, there was some sort of a bit of a pause. People were still searching, still looking, planning for the future. Now we have seen that shift just in the last week, the week of March 11th nationally, when consumers were asked about not quite 30% who are responding to surveys said we're going to cancel our trip completely. Now when that same survey was done on March 19th, nearly 50% of Americans who were surveyed said they were going to cancel.

What we've been doing with our messaging is just being really careful about what we say. We're still marketing. We've pulled back on some platforms like television and others, but with digital marketing, technology allows us today and intelligence allows us to find those audiences who are very receptive to still planning despite the crisis we're going on. So the message that they're seeing about South Dakota is one that's very lofty, it's very inspirational. We're just showing beautiful pictures of our pristine outdoors, our beautiful Black Hills national forest, the beautiful Black Hills, the rolling prairies on the Eastern half of the state, our glacial lakes, beautiful glacial lakes up on the Northeast corner.

We're not pushing any sort of message like book now, come here. We're just simply being very, if they want to request a vacation guide, they can get that, but we're just being very lofty and not pushing any sort of a call to action at this point in time. We will continue monitoring things very closely because the last thing we want to do is to do anything that would, appear that we're insensitive to the crisis that we're facing. Other things that we're doing is we're making sure that any of our digital marketing that does run, that it's not being placed near an article or anything about COVID-19.

There are just little things that you can do. People, we do have a segment of the population, like I said, that are still planning and looking to the future and so we want to be there when they're searching, but encouraging them to, they can daydream about us today and then down the road when we get through this, we'll be so happy to welcome them to South Dakota.

Lori Walsh: We are hearing reports, unconfirmed reports, about many people still coming from some of those cities because they feel like this is a safe place to be. Gambling is up in Deadwood, Hill City, people are saying hotels are having problems, restaurants are having problems. Are you hearing any of those reports that people from elsewhere are coming here specifically because they like the lofty message and they think it helps them escape from a city or an urban area, for example? Is there any truth to that?

Jim Hagen: Well, I think there's no question that we've received feedback from visitors around the country who've said to us, "We're planning longterm. We were planning to go to X, Y or Z." In fact, I just got an email last week from the couple in Illinois who said, "We were going to take a cruise. We've decided not to do that. When the time is right, we're going to come to South Dakota and so can you send us a vacation guide?" Yeah, we are hearing reports of out of state visitors coming to our state. My message would be obviously we're flattered that they're here, that they find us to be a safe destination and we are, and we have these pristine outdoors which we, do clean air, clean water, those sort of things, but we're really encouraging people let's get through this crisis.

The smart thing to do is to stay home. Come and see us later when we get through this. We want you to come to South Dakota, no question about it. But we all have a responsibility now to do what we can to make sure that we're preventing the spread of this virus, that we're flattening the curve, that term that we've heard so much now in the last 10 days. And so it's tough because you know there is a concern from a lot of industry members too. Like we just, we're not wanting to see these visitors right now just because we need to get a handle on this.

Lori Walsh: So I'm reading in the Rapid City journal an open letter through the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce from the mayor of Deadwood asking casino operators to please shut down to help curb the potential spread in a town like Deadwood. Is the Department of Tourism messaging conflicting with this plea from local destinations to say, "We can't handle these people right now. We're bringing this into our state in a travel-related way and it could tie in with our messaging itself?"

Jim Hagen: Right now, in fact, like I said, our messaging is very much tied to the future. When we get through this crisis, then come and see us and that's what we're going to do. Like I said, none of our calls to action are come see us today, come see us next week, come see us in a month. It's down the road when we want to see them. So no, like I said, we're being very careful to make sure that our messaging is one that daydream about us today, that's fine, but you come when we're through this.

Lori Walsh: Do you think you made that pivot soon enough?

Jim Hagen: Yeah, I do. Yep. We were very careful when this was coming down. We pivoted right away with our marketing.

Lori Walsh: When was that?

Jim Hagen: That would have been, oh 10 days, right when we got into the crisis, 10 days ago or right about two weeks ago.

Lori Walsh: Sure. What is your message for South Dakotans then going forward because many of them want to go to places in the state that they feel are wide open and would have the appropriate distance between themselves and other people? How do you sort through that for people who need a little breather, but we also want to stop the spread here in the state?

Jim Hagen: For sure. My message would be, and I think game fish and parks had the same message, is if you want to get outdoors, get outdoors, but let's be smart about it because everyone needs to get out and get that fresh air and get a little bit of exercise. But just be careful about huge crowds and that's what we want to avoid. So I can certainly understand the need and the want to get outside and just clear one's head and get some fresh air. But we have to be really smart about that too. And so if you're out and about and you're the only ones walking on a trail, that's great. But if there are a lot of folks, that's not good. And so again, we just have to be wise about what we're doing.

Lori Walsh: How does this all change the conversation about fireworks at Mount Rushmore this year?

Jim Hagen: You know, for now there are a lot of moving parts with that, but we're going to be very sensitive to how things may change and where we're at, as we know things can change by the day and they're certainly changing by the week. So we continue to lay the groundwork but also know that if we need to pivot, we'll pivot. So no decisions have been made, but we're continuing on with planning. We need to be because like I said, there is a lot of moving parts, but I know that we will be very sensitive and we'll pivot if we have to.

Lori Walsh: Are there investments involved in that planning? Do you have to make at some point financial decisions that-

Jim Hagen: Sure, yeah for now we're just putting in our time and we have been for months with working groups in the National Park Service, Department of the Insurer and at the state level. We're not at a point where we've had to expend any resources in terms of purchasing fireworks or things like that. But those are decisions we'll have to make for sure in the weeks ahead.

Lori Walsh: And the governor said May 1st is ... the deadline keeps moving forward to May 1st. It seems like by July I can't ... it's hard to imagine that we'll be in a situation where we would want a massive gathering like that. At what point do you make that that final call? The Olympics are on hold.

Jim Hagen: Yes, I saw that. So I don't have a good answer for you today, but we certainly will take that into consideration and we're already discussing it internally with my team and as we'll meet as a planning group with our other partners, we'll be having those discussions too. And I know that at the federal level I'm sure they're having those discussions too. So I would just say, stay tuned. Don't have a good answer for you today, but as things evolve, we'll definitely be in touch on that.

Lori Walsh: Yeah, they evolve every hour sometimes don't they, Jim?

Jim Hagen: Really, honestly. It's amazing.

Lori Walsh: Well, take a fresh breath of South Dakota air. That's still allowed and we really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

Jim Hagen: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Lori. Appreciate it.

You can access all of SDPB's COVID-19 coverage at www.sdpb.org/covid