This interview is from SDPB's daily public-affairs show, In the Moment, hosted by Lori Walsh.
Transcript
Lori Walsh:
All right. I'm going to start with Dr. Wehrung here and just say broadly speaking, what kinds of programs do you have that sort of help grow the next leaders in this industry?
Jeff Wehrung:
Yeah. So, I mean, obviously I work mostly with the school of business, right? So when we look at the hospitality industry, we have the tourism and hospitality specialization for individuals who know they want to get into that industry, but also HR leaders, accountants, marketers, right, these all types of business positions within the industry, even across campus. I mean, we have a great photography program and outdoor education program. And with South Dakota tourism being so outdoor focused, that all feeds into supporting the workforce needs there.
Lori Walsh:
All right. And Teresa, tell me a little bit about your main interests and the sort of things that you teach students for the future.
Teresa Schanzenbach:
I have had the great privilege of taking a program that is a 16 month program through Black Hill State University, where people can earn an associate's degree in tourism and hospitality. And what we're doing with this is more of a boots on the ground sort of approach to education. The students learn by doing a lot of site visits, guest speaker interaction, they're learning through real models and through actual events, activities that are taking place in South Dakota in the tourism industry. So it's not learning from books. We use books as a backup, but really they're learning from the people who are actually doing and making tourism so great in the state of South Dakota.
Lori Walsh:
All right. So one of the things that we really noticed as we unpacked what the state tourism department is looking for in the future was about diversification in tourism throughout the state. We have these great iconic places that we know people love to come, and we see those numbers tick up and have record breaking numbers, but that can put pressure on a certain part of the state. And perhaps there are ways to sort of spread that love out a little bit. Jeff Wehrung, tell me a little about how you're seeing this develop. Are we starting to see challenges from visitors coming from too many visitors coming? What direction are we heading with tourism in the state?
Jeff Wehrung:
I think a lot of people are starting to recognize that just getting off the beaten path in South Dakota and seeing what we have nature wise, you obviously see a huge increase in the number of people RVing and camping with everything that went on during COVID. And I think that's helping to recognize it's not just a once in a lifetime trip to go see Mount Rushmore. Right. Because you have to see it, but it's, you can come back and see the hills and just go hiking over and over again. And there's more places to see. And I think that's really what's going to happen, is it's not just coming and going to these towns and going to the convention center, but it's getting out into the woods.
Lori Walsh:
Professor Schanzenbach, how do communities take ownership then of their own visitor experience so it is one that they're proud of, that can sustain them, not only economically, but keep that off the beaten path from being beaten down?
Teresa Schanzenbach:
I think having really open conversations is very important to maintain quality tourism and to make sure that everyone's ideas and thoughts and concerns about tourism are met. It's kind of like increasing the amount of campground sites that they wanted to propose by Custer State Park. And while that's great in theory, because there's so many people going down there, it was really going to be an impact on environmentally and with the Buffalo themselves and the grasslands. And I think we need to look at all aspects of how tourism is affecting people. And we need to come together with a plan, which is what is so great about this state. They really, if people have not read the strategic plan, they really should delve into it because they do have some awesome things that they're talking about, how they want to include the voice of a lot of people so that when decisions are made, that it's made for the good of not only those that are coming as tourists, but for the state of South Dakota and for the regions that are being impacted.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. Jeff, you mentioned working really cross section in business. This has to be familiar for anybody who's studying human resources management now, or finance. The ethics of things, the sustainability of systems is on everybody's mind. Am I right about that or are we not there yet?
Jeff Wehrung:
Yeah. Well, I mean, it's an interesting thing because we used to look, kind of compartmentalize business ethics as a separate class.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah.
Jeff Wehrung:
And we've recently said, we don't want that as a separate class. We want to have it integrated into every one of our courses and just make sure it comes up over and over again. So when you take an accounting class, you have to talk about the ethics of accounting, when you take the human resource class, yeah, the ethics of how you hire and don't discriminate. And we want to make sure that this is actually a key part of every class rather than being its own side thing because what we found is yeah, if we put it in its own little and students forget about it. Right. So we want to make sure no, this goes through everything and we haven't done that as much with the, maybe the sustainability side of it, but with the ethics, for sure. We've integrated that throughout the whole curriculum.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. Teresa, you talked about some of those fun site visits. Can you give me an example? Can you give me an idea of someplace that you've been, where you see a tourism model or a visitor model that's working really well?
Teresa Schanzenbach:
Well, I'll refer to one that we just went on The Monument, which is the new arena that was built in Rapid City. We just went and talked to the event coordinators there, Jayne Kraemer and Tanya. And they took us through what it really takes backstage to make some of these big events work. And I'm teaching right now a conventions meetings and events class. Students would've never had the opportunity to get backstage and actually see how everything is built and constructed and how the [inaudible 00:07:39] procedures go. They were learning from the people that were actually doing it every single day and what it takes for volunteers and all of the personnel that it takes. I think they came away with that going, wow. And then I usually have them do a reaction paper to it.
Teresa Schanzenbach:
So I know how they feel about this. They come out saying, I didn't know that everything was so in depth or that it took this much work to put these events on. I'm going to look at events in a completely different way, or I'm going to volunteer more because I realize what it takes for such a massive event to actually take place. So it really resonates with them personally and it validates why they are getting a degree in tourism and hospitality to go out there and be a front line or behind the scenes of what's taking place in South Dakota.
Lori Walsh:
How long does it take an event center like that to find its footing Teresa? I mean, this is a new event center. We're looking at how many events they have and whether or not they sell out. And of course the community worked so hard to try to figure out how to make this happen. They want to know if it quote worked. What would you suggest are some benchmarks to measure the success of a place like The Monument?
Teresa Schanzenbach:
I think that it is already truly very successful just because they really did their research and groundwork on this. They went and saw all these other major event complexes across the United States and they took the good and they kept the bad and they weeded it out and it is amazing what they can do and how quickly they can put an event together. At any one time, The Monument might have a dozen events going on at exactly the same time in that complex. And it is definitely a 24/7 operation.
Teresa Schanzenbach:
I think as we see more and more concerts coming in, people kind of use that as, Hey, we must be doing great because we've got this great big name band coming into play, but there's a lot more to it than that. It's the fact that the LNI has come back, that they're using that complex and the amenities that are now being offered to LNI, after two years of being on a hiatus from their major pow wow is... Word of mouth is going to spread. And I don't think it's going to take that long before everyone goes, wow, dollars well spent.
Lori Walsh:
Jeff, we've been talking about that outdoor experience too and how much of South Dakota outdoors. And when we think about a place like an event center, it's pretty easy because South Dakotan's get to go to the concert too. And there's usually enough tickets for us to jump on. But in some of those outdoor spaces, the tendency might be for local residents to say less is more when it comes from out of town visitors, because we want some of these spaces for ourselves. Help us kind of figure out where that balance is between a tourism industry that can help sustain those places and support them instead of degrade them.
Jeff Wehrung:
Yeah. And so I'm not from South Dakota originally and what I love being here is the way the outdoor areas are set up. It's very clear, you can walk along the Mickelson Trail and know like you have this great opportunity to experience what's going on in nature, but without doing damage to nature whereas other places people might be going off the trail. Right. So it's pretty clear, I think in terms of where we want people and visitors to go. And I think South Dakota has done a great job with that. So we may be hesitant to allow more people to come in and be going on the trails. But as long as that process keeps in place of saying, yeah, this is where we want you, this is where you can get the best experience without doing damage to an environment. I think it'll be maintainable.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. Teresa, same kind of question. How much is visitor education part of a thriving tourism industry?
Teresa Schanzenbach:
Oh, super important. Super important. Not just, not of course, not just educating those that are going to be working in the field, but educating those that are coming in. I think the other thing that we need to focus on is that tourism is not just the Black Hills. We have fabulous tourism across the state of South Dakota. I was originally from the central part of South Dakota, and I've lived on the Eastern side and I've seen all areas of fabulous tourism. And yes, Mickelson Trail is amazing. There are a lot of other nature areas in Southeastern South Dakota and in Northeastern South Dakota, and even in central that we need to play upon so that people are not rushing here all at one time to see Western South Dakota, that they can make their way across, which might actually break up some of the rush of the individuals that do get here.
Teresa Schanzenbach:
But there are iconic events like hike, the big Buffalo Roundup that they do at the end of September, that brings in tens of thousands of people into the area. And when those iconic events happen, I don't think that there's any way that you can really stifle the amount of people that are coming. But what they've done is they've extended the days out, they've learned that there's better days to do it.
Teresa Schanzenbach:
I think we're kind of a go with the flow sort of a state. And I just think as long as we're staying in tune with those that are saying, Hey, listen, we got to cut back on this or this is harming this and we listen to those that are actually keeping the environment up where it needs to be and the game, fish, and parks and all of the park rangers. And if we're listening to them and taking their advice, I think South Dakota's going to be just fine because there is so many great things to see. And we have a lot of space. It's kind of like the Sturgis Rally would say, enough, there's too many people. Well, it's for 10 days. Yes, it's a rush, but there's a lot of, they're coming all the way across the state of South Dakota dropping coin all the way. And I think it's definitely a positive experience for the [inaudible 00:14:07].