The summer tourism season is over, but for Black Hills
tourist attractions that doesn't mean their business stops.
If the increase in
summer tourist traffic is any indication, area attractions may be in for a
busy shoulder season.
"We hope that's a trend that just continues throughout
the fall," John Brockelsby, public relations with Reptile Gardens, says they have seen a significant increase in customer traffic this year.
"April and May numbers were off the charts, June was
very strong also, July we were up a few percentage in people, overall I'd say
our visitor numbers will be seven to eight percent up from a year ago, so that's obviously
a good trend," says Brockelsby.
And so far that trend is continuing this month.
One thing that does change in the fall, aside from the
leaves: the ages of the tourists.
"We have a completely different demographic in the
fall, it's a lot of retired people, a lot of senior couples coming
through," says Brockelsby.
"We planned it so we would be here in the fall, we were
hoping to miss all the families and all the kids a little bit," says Nevada tourist Bob Honer.
"We try to vacation in the fall because the weather is
usually cooler and also is less people, usually not as crowded," says Los Angeles tourists the Yackey's.
And with less crowds, people are doing a little more of
what they should on vacation: relaxing.
"I find people have a lot more time on their hands,
nobody's in a rush like they sometimes are in the summertime, it's an enjoyable
time of year for all of us," says Brockelsby.
"We can walk around at our own pace. We just wanted
to take our time and look around, we've never been to this part of the
country," says Honer.
While the fall pace maybe slower, so far the same can't
be said for tourist traffic.
"When we went to Mount Rushmore the parking lot was
really full, it was hard to get in there. Crazy Horse was also busy, but other
than that we've been fine, it hasn't been crazy with people," says the Yackey's.
Brockelsby says they've seen more families take long
weekends, especially families and people working in the North Dakota oil
fields.
And of course, with school being back in session, Reptile Gardens has classes of kids touring the attraction.
