SIOUX FALLS As South Dakota’s visitation rates and related spending keep rising, local small business owners see an opportunity to find their niche in the state’s second-largest industry.
Visitor spending driven by tourism broke $5 billion for the first time last year, according to the latest numbers from the Department of Tourism. The industry also continues to grow, supporting 58,824 jobs nearly 9% of all jobs in the state.
The tourism industry’s success depends on a high-class workforce. The annual Governors Conference on Tourism concludes with an awards ceremony to celebrate some of the tourism industry’s most passionate professionals. But that passion extends beyond the award winners to other small businesses throughout the state.
The Ruth Ziolkowski Outstanding Hospitality & Customer Service Awards recognize hospitality workers, business owners and others from each of the four tourism regions of South Dakota. The 2025 recipient from the southeast region is Phil Zea, the front desk manager of the Hotel on Phillips in Sioux Falls.
During his acceptance speech, Zea emphasized the relationship between Sioux Falls and other destinations across the state. “We’re kind of the first step when people are coming west,” he told the crowd during the awards gala in January. “It’s a chance for me to pump up all the places along the way (guests) are gonna be seeing.”
Zea believes the historic nature of the Hotel on Phillips adds to its appeal. The hundred-year-old building used to be the Sioux Falls National Bank. The original 16-ton bank vault door now serves as an entrance to an on-site bar and lounge called The Treasury.
Zea loves seeing guests eyes light up at the unique feature, but he also values hearing about their experiences in South Dakota on both ends of their trip.
“I’ve been extremely fortunate to have families that stopped here on their way from the East Coast, never seen Mount Rushmore,” said Zea. “But then (I) get fortunate enough that that same family is returning, they’ve gone to the Black Hills, they went out to Wyoming, and now they’re on their way back. The trip is over. To ask how their experience was, how were the Badlands. It’s just amazing to see their faces light up.”
Across the state, two other hosts share a similar enthusiasm for sharing the state with visitors. Thad Weiss grew up in Hill City, and has dreamed of owning a campground since he worked at one during high school.
He and his wife, Nicole, took the leap into the tourism industry a few years ago, selling their house in order to purchase the motel and cabins. That was in the spring of 2020, the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Those first few months, every phone call was basically a cancellation,” said Thad. “You didn’t want to answer the phone at that point.”
The tourism economy bounced back faster than others, and the Hill City motel stayed afloat. That’s when the KOA Campground in Hot Springs caught Thad Weiss’s attention.
“The dream was always the campground,” he said. “And so I never stopped looking. I was always keeping my eye out.”
It’s an hour drive from Hill City to Hot Springs, but the family has managed the logistics. All three of Thad and Nicole’s children help with the two businesses, including checking in guests and offering suggestions for site seeing.
“It’s just so much more than working the desk when it’s a small ma-and-pa hotel,” said Nicole. “You have to put your heart and soul into meeting all the guests and making it more than just a one night come-and-go. They can get that anywhere. A mom-and-pop place is going to be a little more dated and it’s gonna have things we’re constantly working on, so we have to really step up the customer service.”
For his part, Thad still relishes the chance to get tourists off the beaten path.
“It’s kind of our backyard, he said, and we’re proud to be here and show them.”
That passion for sharing South Dakota isnt limited to the born-and-raised resident. Jason Reuter owns Against the Grain, a custom woodworking business he runs out of his home in Rapid City.
A trip to the Black Hills with college classmates gave Reuterwhos originally from New Jerseyan appreciation for South Dakota landscapes. Twenty-five years later, hes hoping to break into the tourism industry by supplying pieces for gift shops. Many of these pieces feature local iconography like pheasants, bison and pasqueflowers.
“It needs to be small. It needs to be affordable. But for me, it also needs to have artistic integrity,” he said.
Adapting vast South Dakota landscapes to travel-sized pieces has presented an interesting challenge. By trying to anticipate what a tourist will love about South Dakota, Reuter has rediscovered his own appreciation for the place he now calls home.
“It’s kind of a fun exercise because you try to get back to the first times you were here in the Hills. What did you feel? What did you experience? What took your breath away the first time?”
How to watch ‘South Dakota Focus’
The next episode of “South Dakota Focus” airs Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. Central time/7 p.m. Mountain time. It can be viewed on SDPB-TV1, Facebook, YouTube and SD.net. The episode includes:
- An award-winning front desk manager at a boutique Sioux Falls hotel
- A husband-and-wife team managing a motel and campground in the southern Black Hills
- A Rapid City artist adapting his passion for South Dakota landscapes into travel-sized souvenirs
This story was written by Jackie Hendry, host and producer of South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s “South Dakota Focus,” to preview the next show. It was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email to get stories when they’re published. Contact us at [email protected].
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