The South Dakota Native Tourism Alliance, launched in 2019 with with technical assistance from the International Institute for Tourism Studies (IITS), has been helping Tribal nations and Indigenous communities benefit from a booming travel industry by expanding tourism opportunities on tribal lands. “I think tourism is really about what that means for people within their community and within the environment that they love,” said Beth Wright M.A.’ 21, a graduate of the Master of Tourism Administration program. “I think the more we invest into people, the better the outcomes will be for tourism.”
This goal is being expanded with creation of The Indigenous Tourism Collaborative of the Americas (ITCA), a flagship initiative of the IITS.