With summer just around the corner, North Dakotans have begun making their travel plans. As reporter Kate Schell tells us, vacations close to home look very promising this season.





After being pent up all winter dealing with the snow and freezing cold temperatures, its not a surprise that North Dakotans are excited for summer.

(Sara Otte Coleman/Director ND Dept. of Tourism) "It was difficult for North Dakotans and folks in Minnesota and Saskatchewan and Manitoba to travel with this horrible winter that we had. So, we believe there is some pent up demand and that people are going to want to get out and enjoy traveling this summer."


Recently, AAA named North Dakota the most affordable state allowing not only visitors but residents to enjoy relatively inexpensive fun.

(Sara Otte Coleman/Director ND Dept. of Tourism) "We do see that a lot of our visitors come to visit friends and relatives as well. So in a lot of cases North Dakotans are inviting their families back home and kind of building their vacations around their family's trip back home."


With a fair amount of family visitors to the state, it is not a surprise that staying local is a favored option.

(Katherine Satrom/Satrom Travel and Tours President) "Well usually in the summer we plan closer to home tours. And we do have four of them this summer, spreading out through July and August. And we are seeing that they are very popular."


(Sara Otte Coleman/Director ND Dept. of Tourism) You know we are just encouraging people to get out and discover different things. You know, go to a different part of the state and see something new and different."


The National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown is just one state attraction that sees many North Dakotans walk through their entrance each year.

(Felicia Sargeant/National Buffalo Museum) "So we're going with the assumption that we can go into this summer with the same kind of thing. We think we had a lot more local travel. But as far as the states that are visiting, that didn't change."


According to Dan Schelske the Park Manager at Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park, the park had 931 reservations from last May to September, 711 of those from instate residents.

Although they do not expect to break records this summer because of the flood, they already have 420 reservations, 70 percent of those made by North Dakotans.

(Sara Otte Coleman/Director ND Dept. of Tourism) "So second, third, and fourth quarters are very important for tourism in the state because of all the outdoor recreational opportunities that we are able to offer. We do really well, spring, summer and fall."


NDSU research shows that tourism ranked number two last year in contribution to North Dakota's gross state product.

For KX news, Im Kate Schell.



If your looking for something to do this summer, visit the state's website at NDtourism.com. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list