Radio Update Report 6:30pm (audio)

Air Date:01/22/2010

Lawmakers in Pierre ended the day early today to allow travelers time to make it home before impending winter weather hits.  Governor Mike Rounds visited with the press regarding winter weather conditions and also touched on recent tourism news according to the governor South Dakota’s tourism industry held its own last year despite the national recession. Tourism spending is down less than 1% - however tourism dollars fell 7 % at the national level.  Even more promising for South Dakota’s tourism industry is the number of visitors coming to the state – which increased by almost 2%. But according to the governor even with the slight increase in visitors – it may not be enough to meet his goal to double visitor spending by the end of 2010. .
 
Governor Rounds also addressed the status of the state budget. According to Rounds he will continue to remind lawmakers to spend tax dollars wisely and even though he has been willing to modify budget proposal in previous years – that may not be the case this year.

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