$3.90. That’s the average price of gas in our state on Monday.

About a year ago, the average cost was $2.75 a gallon.

With gas prices trending upward, industries like tourism tend to feel the pinch.

Although gas prices are high now, according to the Biden administration efforts are underway to get those prices down.

Visit Minot’s executive director thinks gas prices won’t have a big impact on tourism in the area.

“We think it’s going to level out,” said Stephanie Schoenrock. “There’s no doubt that we’ve heard from some people saying that they’ve changed their travel plans for the summer, but what we anticipate is that typically we get a lot of people from the east coast and the west coast. And what we’ve seen is kind of a shift and so we’ve seen requests come in from people who are closer than that.”

The director of the North Dakota Department of Commerce, Tourism and Marketing agreed.

Sara Otte Coleman says typically, gas prices don’t have much impact on visitation.

Both agencies are optimistic to see more tourists visit because of fewer COVID restrictions.

Otte Coleman says the state is well-positioned to welcome the 90 percent of Americans that are ready to travel this year.

Schoenrock says in Minot, fewer restrictions mean more visits from our neighbors to the North.

“Canada is a big factor for us, knowing that those restrictions have been reduced makes a very big difference and so yeah, we are expecting it to be a good, a really good summer for us,” said Schoenrock.

Another trend that people can expect this summer is North Dakotans taking trips closer to home.

“Rather than going on a week or ten-day-long vacation that is going to cost in the thousands of dollars, they will take more trips that are less days and do it in more of their region and so we do anticipate that being a factor for us this summer,” said Schoenrock.

Otte Coleman also says the many different concerts and festivals that are returning to the state will make room for a local economy boost.

Schoenrock says all the upcoming concerts and events in Minot — like the fair and Norsk Høstfest — are good for state tourism as a whole.