FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Office of Tourism and Partners promote National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Pierre, S.D. – The South Dakota Office of Tourism in partnership with the Rapid City Convention and Visitors Bureau and Black Hills Central Reservations have teamed up to promote the Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Film National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

"Since January, filming in South Dakota has produced a $7 million economic impact," said Richard Benda, secretary, Department of Tourism and State Development. "The upcoming release of this film has afforded us several more opportunities to partner with the industry on promotions, enabling us to bring that number even higher."

Beginning in December, ten National Treasure: Book of Secrets packages will be given away to people across the country. The package includes passes to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Jewel Cave National Memorial, Badlands National Park, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, Reptile Gardens and Bear Country USA. Hotel rooms for the package are courtesy of the Radisson Hotel Rapid City and car rental is courtesy of Avis. The package also includes suggested sites and restaurants that the cast and crew from National Treasure: Book of Secrets enjoyed while filming on location in South Dakota.

"South Dakota, Mount Rushmore National Memorial in particular plays a very important role in the film," said Billie Jo Waara, director, South Dakota Office of Tourism. "Working with our partners to promote South Dakota to potential visitors across the country is a great way to show how well we all work together to promote our state. We wanted to give visitors a chance to experience what some of the cast and crew from the film did while filming on location in South Dakota"

The promotion, spearheaded by Disney, involves select cities across the country. Of the list of cities determined by Disney, the South Dakota Office of Tourism has chosen to promote the packages in Phoenix, Ariz; Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Ventura Calif; Denver, Colo; Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla; Chicago, Ill; Indianapolis, Ind.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn; St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Philadelphia and Pittsburg, Pa.; Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Milwaukee, Wis.; Toronto, Canada.

These cities were selected for a variety of reasons:

• The city is in our current target market
• The city was one of our past target markets
• The city has a direct flight into Rapid City
• We've noticed high traffic from the city or state at our Interstate Information Centers
• The city is a market in which we've never invested, but about which we are curious

The efforts of the Office of Tourism are part of Goal 1 of the 2010 initiative to double visitor spending in South Dakota. The Office of Tourism serves under the direction of Richard Benda, Secretary of the Department of Tourism and State Development.

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