MPR: Foot and Mouth Threatens Tourism

Foot and Mouth Threatens Tourism
By Cara Hetland
Minnesota Public Radio
April 30, 2001

For many parts of our region, tourism is a vital industry. Many farmers and ranchers are getting into the business by opening up their homes and land as vacation spots. Tourism organizations target international travelers with an invitation to come and see the "real" Midwest. Packages promoting farm and ranch stays have some worried that foot and mouth disease could easily find its way to midwestern livestock. Most trust the preventative measures in place while others are taking their own precautions.

Mount Rushmore is one of the most popular tourist destinations in South Dakota. State officials are concerned that tourists this summer could bring foot and mouth disease into the state.
(Photo courtesy of the South Dakota Tourism Department)

FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, the South Dakota Department of Tourism has worked to lure international travelers to the heartland. With attractions like Mount Rushmore, the Badlands and Wall Drug, tourism is a $624 million industry. But only five percent of the tourists come from other countries. Mary Stadick Smith, a spokeswoman for the South Dakota Department of Tourism, says this year, the effort to bring in more tourists will require additional vigilance to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease. Smith says while there is concern that foot and mouth could infect animals in the United States, the tourism department has not stopped any of its European marketing campaigns.

"Down the road, hopefully the disease over there will be under control. We don't want to lose the gains that we've made in some of these overseas markets by totally pulling out. We don't want to become a nonentity - we'd have to start again from scratch. We want to keep a presence over there," says Smith.

A warning about foot and mouth disease is posted on the tourism department's web site - just a click away from a package advertisement to camp at a local farm.

South Dakota state veterinarian Sam Holland wants to make sure people are aware of the regulation which prohibits anyone who's been near an infected animal or farm from visiting a U.S. farm or zoo for five days. Holland says there has to be a level of trust as the tourism season gets underway.

"If they get the right information, people want to do the right thing. Nobody wants to bring this disease in here and put our industry at risk," he says.

Holland's biggest concern is that a tourist may spread foot and mouth disease to the buffalo herd at Custer State Park, or the deer in the Badlands. While the virus doesn't affect humans, Holland warns it's highly communicable and says a simple sneeze could wipe out herds in western South Dakota.

South Dakota ag officials are concerned a tourist carrying foot and mouth disease could infect and wipe out the buffalo herd in places like Custer State Park.
(Photo courtesy of South Dakota Tourism Department)

Chuck Box, director of a multi-state travel consortium, says the average foreign tourist stays five times longer at a midwestern destination, and spends five times as much money, as a domestic tourist. That's something no one in the industry wants to jeopardize. Box says the typical travel pattern of a foreign visitor can easily accommodate the five-day rule.

"Most fly/drive vacationers from the infected areas of Europe - they'll be here for 20 or 25 days," says Box. "Even if they're intending to go to ranches or areas where there's wildlife, the natural travel pattern is they tend to stay for several days in the gateway city they arrive in - Minneapolis or Chicago - and then go to areas like ours with ranches and farms."

Box says everyone needs to be responsible and careful to prevent foot and mouth disease from entering the United States.

Lindy Ireland runs a bed and breakfast on a ranch near Philip, S.D. She says she feels a responsibility to her neighbors to take extra precautions.

"From now on, I'm going to ask any guest whether they've been in a foreign country within the time period, and whether they're an American guest or a foreign guest," says Ireland. "I'm going to say my prayers and hope that people are honest."

People are on their honor, says Ireland, an honor she hopes will keep a devastating disease from infecting her ranch and livelihood.

Related links:

www.travelsd.com/
South Dakota tourism web site

www.rmi-realamerica.com/agtour.asp
Marketing site for European tours

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