Marketing Roundup: Visitor Trends, Marketing Results and What’s Next

The Black Hills and Badlands region continues to attract visitors, generate strong interest, and connect travelers with communities and businesses across western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming.

At the same time, 2026 data shows a changing visitor landscape. The region is reaching more people, but some trips—particularly in July—appear to be shorter and more concentrated. BH&B is responding by connecting travelers with trip-planning tools, regional experiences, member businesses, and reasons to stay longer.

Visitor Demand Remains Strong, but Trip Depth Varies

[REPORTING PERIOD: Jan. 1–June 30, 2026, compared with the same period in 2025]

The visitor economy showed mixed performance during the first half of 2026:

• Visitor spending reached $582.6 million, down 7.4%.
• National park recreational visits totaled approximately 1.6 million, up 0.1%.
• Hotel occupancy was 49.9%, up 0.5%.
• Short-term rental occupancy was 26.4%, up 12.9%.
• Deadwood gaming handle reached approximately $827 million, up 9.6%.

These results show that demand remains present, although visitation, spending, and lodging performance are not moving uniformly across the region.

BH&B is monitoring these differences closely as it evaluates not only how many people visit, but also how long they stay, where they go, and how they engage with local businesses.

July Showed a Shift Toward Shorter Visits

[REPORTING PERIOD: July 1–31, 2026, compared with July 1–31, 2025]

July 2026 produced the clearest change in visitor behavior:

Datafy results also showed:

• Two-day trips: 39.68%
• Three-day trips: 21.97%
• Four-day trips: 20.93%
• Five-day trips: 17.42%

The reported average length of stay should be validated against the displayed trip-length distribution before publication. However, the directional takeaway is clear: July generated more trips, but fewer visitor days.

This may reflect more short regional trips, overnight stops, event-related travel, pass-through visitation, or differences in the reporting universe.

BH&B Is Promoting the Complete Regional Experience

BH&B is responding to shorter-trip behavior by promoting more than a single attraction or event.

Current marketing connects travelers with:

• Scenic routes and regional loops
• Nearby communities
• Additional attractions
• Dining and shopping
• Evening entertainment
• Lodging and basecamp options
• Itineraries, maps, guides, and planning tools
• “While You’re Here” recommendations

The goal is to help travelers add one more stop, one more night, or one more experience to their trip.

This strategy reflects BH&B’s broader destination story:

One region, many experiences—connected by scenic drives, memorable places, and local businesses that make the trip better.

Road-Trip Behavior Continues to Shape the Market

[REPORTING PERIOD: FY2026]

Spending patterns reinforce the importance of automobile-based travel:

• Service stations: 22.60%
• Dining and nightlife: 18.18%
• Grocery and department stores: 16.87%
• Accommodations: 15.31%
• Specialty retail: 9.48%
• Leisure and recreation: 4.95%

The high share of service-station spending suggests continued drive-market and route-based visitation.

BH&B is addressing this behavior through:

• Scenic-drive content
• Regional maps
• Route-based itineraries
• Gateway-community features
• Nearby attraction recommendations
• Fuel-and-food stop inspiration
• Event extensions
• Lodging and basecamp guidance

These efforts connect practical road-trip behavior with opportunities to slow down, stay overnight, and explore more of the region.

BH&B’s Marketing Approach Is More Connected

BH&B is continuing its cooperative shoulder-season campaign with Travel South Dakota, managed by Lawrence & Schiller. This campaign runs September 2026–February 2027.

The campaign represents a total investment of $130,000:

• BH&B: $65,000
• Travel South Dakota: $65,000

The matched investment supports display, video, audio, social, search, out-of-home, and direct mail.

The campaign emphasizes premium experiences, distinctive storytelling, quality engagement, and a connected planning journey across BH&B, Travel South Dakota, and Deadwood.

BH&B is using these efforts to move travelers from:

1. Destination inspiration
2. Experience discovery
3. Trip planning
4. In-region decision-making
5. Member business engagement
6. Future travel and repeat visitation

Website Results Show Stronger Visitor and Member Engagement

[REPORTING PERIOD: FY2026]

The BH&B website remains the organization’s primary planning and conversion hub.

Reported FY2026 results include:

• BlackHillsBadlands.com
  • 1.1 million pageviews
    • 50% new users
    • Total pageviews up 37%
• BH&B member listing pageviews up 129%
  • Bounce rate down nearly 40%
  • Outbound clicks to member websites up 121%

Member pages generated approximately:

• 223,000 pageviews
• 5,848 outbound clicks
• 25.6% bounce rate

These results show that visitors are using BlackHillsBadlands.com to explore experiences, compare options, and connect directly with member businesses.

Paid Social Is Reaching Travelers at Different Planning Stages

[REPORTING PERIOD: FY2026]

BH&B paid social marketing supports:

• Prospecting new travelers
• Retargeting engaged audiences
• “While You’re Here” in-region discovery
• Things to do
• Events
• Planning resources
• Seasonal experiences
• Member business promotion

Reported results include:

• 1.7 million impressions
• 79.2K engagements
• 6.60% click-through rate

Member Campaigns Generated Strong Engagement

[REPORTING PERIOD: FY2026]

BH&B also introduced a new member opportunity in FY2026, Targeting Social Ads, featuring 26 members across its social media platforms. Each ad set used custom audience targeting to align featured businesses with relevant traveler interests.

BH&B member campaigns generated:

• 2.2 million impressions
• 276.7K engagements
• 9.55% click-through rate

Rally Rush Turned Event Demand Into Regional Exploration

[REPORTING PERIOD: July 15—August 16, 2026]

The Rally Rush micro-campaign used the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as an entry point to promote broader regional travel. The campaign encouraged visitors to move beyond Sturgis, explore additional communities, find activities after the first weekend, and consider extending their stay.

The campaign featured two utility-focused articles:

• Get Your Motor Running: A Guide to the 2026 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
  • A rally planning guide launched two weeks before the rally, featuring events, rides, and things to do.
• The Party Rolls On: Rally Across the Black Hills, Badlands and Eastern Wyoming
  • Encouraged visitors to continue exploring communities and experiences throughout the region after the first rally weekend.

Results included:

• 7,000 pageviews
• 150,000 impressions
• 5,340 link clicks
• 7.32% click-through rate

Digital Road Trip Content Reinforced Multi-Stop Travel

[REPORTING PERIOD: July 15—September 1, 2026]

The campaign supported BH&B’s positioning as a scenic, multi-stop road-trip destination. It showed travelers how communities, landmarks, routes, and local businesses fit together within a larger trip.

The Digital Road Trip campaign generated:

• 5.2K pageviews
• 440K impressions
• 15.1K engagements
• 5.08% click-through rate

This expanded campaign organized participating businesses into four thematic units, showing different ways to experience the Black Hills and Badlands through traveler interests and trip styles.

Mindtrip Adds a New Planning Experience

[REPORTING PERIOD: June—July 2026]

BH&B partnered with Mindtrip and launched the service on BlackHillsBadlands.com beginning June 2026.

During its first month, Mindtrip generated:

• 2,030 engaged users
• 6,001 chat messages
• 1,281 itineraries created

BH&B quickly positioned itself among the platform’s top three destination marketing organizations for use and engagement during the first month.

Mindtrip gives travelers another way to choose a basecamp, build a two- or three-day trip, combine the Black Hills and Badlands, find family-friendly experiences, add cultural or scenic stops, and adjust plans when weather changes.

Travel South Dakota is expected to launch Mindtrip on its website later in 2026. The two connected experiences are expected to improve continuity between statewide and regional trip planning.

The Next Measure of Success Is Depth

[REPORTING PERIOD: FY2026]

BH&B marketing performance includes:

• 24.4 million total impressions
• 596.8K total engagements
• 37% growth in website pageviews
• 129% growth in member pageviews
• Nearly 40% reduction in bounce rate in member listings
• 121% growth in outbound clicks to member websites
• 1.7 million paid social impressions
• 2.3 million organic social impressions
• 1,281 Mindtrip itineraries created

These results show that BH&B is reaching a substantial audience and moving visitors beyond awareness into planning, exploration, and direct engagement with member businesses.

The visitor data also shows why trip depth remains important. July 2026 produced more trips but fewer visitor days, reinforcing the need to connect travelers with more communities, experiences, overnight options, and local businesses.

BH&B is continuing to use visitor data, campaign performance, digital engagement, and member referrals to refine its marketing approach.

The focus remains clear: reach more travelers, help them plan with confidence, connect them with the region’s businesses, and encourage longer, more complete visits across the Black Hills and Badlands.