Wall business owners hope the town's new look will draw more tou - KOTA Territory News

Wall business owners hope the town's new look will draw more tourists

The tourism industry in KOTA Territory took a big hit last year because of the Missouri River flooding.

That was especially true for the owners of Wall Drug, who say the flooding diverted tourists away from their famous store.

But the owners say this year is already off to a better start and it might in part be due to the town's new look.

Tourism, sightseeing, or a vacation, anyway you put it Wall depends on it.

"That's what Wall is all about!," said Ted Hustead, President of Wall Drug.

Hustead says the town has something new this year for tourists who stop in Wall.

"It's really amazing for a town of this size to do a project this large, this expensive and this beautiful," said Hustead.

The renovations repaired water lines beneath Main Street, and then re paved the entire area with concrete. They also added new street lights to downtown. Hustead says while the entire area was under construction, during the month of March their tourism numbers were up 20%.

"And in April we were up about 17%, we were very optimistic going into May, and so far in May we are up 9% so I think we're off to the races this summer and we're going to have a really good year," said Hustead.

And that could be in part to the renovation project.

The project has been in the works for a few years and took six months to complete.

Wall Mayor Dave Hahn says it cost $1.3 million dollars, most of which was generated by tourism dollars.

"Tourism plays a major portion of our income here in Wall, of the money that is used for general operation of the city the sales tax accounts for roughly 75% of our budget," said Mayor Hahn.

And a really good tourism year increases the size of the town's budget, allowing for more improvements, thus attracting more tourists.

A cycle Hustead hopes to continue.

"Maybe it will help repeat business, after people come in and see how beautiful it is, how nice it is, and how clean it is. So it's a very positive thing for our community," said Hustead.

Mayor Hahn says he plans to host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new downtown renovations on June 11.