Cashing in: Outdoor recreation generating income, job growth

RV boom has been good for South Dakota economy

When you see a group of hunters decked out in blaze orange traversing a corn field, or an RV cruising down the highway, or a fishing boat on the Missouri River, think dollar signs.

Outdoor recreation in South Dakota accounted for $1.7 billion dollars in total value added to the state economy last year, while industry job growth in 2022 increased 6.1 percent over 2021, according to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis numbers released in November.

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Overall, outdoor recreation accounted for 2.5 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, according to the bureau. That figure was 2.2 percent nationally.

That’s on par with neighboring Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and exceeds North Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.

South Dakota has a leg up on some of its neighbors. While North Dakota got Bakken oil, Iowa got early political caucuses and Nebraska corn, South Dakota has the Black Hills to the west, Falls Park in the east, and all sorts of outdoor destinations in between – camping, lakes and the Missouri River among them.

That makes Tourism Secretary Jim Hagen’s life a tad easier when he’s selling the state, he admits.