Published: Thursday, June 14, 2012 1:09 AM CDT

After a spring filled with dire predictions about $5-a-gallon gas, the price of gasoline in South Dakota is down dramatically from where it was at this time last year.

Those low prices may be fueling a boom in local tourism numbers.

Jeff Van Meeteren, the regional park supervisor for the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks said, that the numbers at Lewis and Clark Recreation Area are up drastically this year compared to last.

“We have had an excellent year so far and we anticipated that,” Van Meeteren said. “We are looking forward to continuing the good year.”

The lower gas prices should also help keep up that momentum from the start of the season.

The average price for a gallon of regular self-serve gasoline in Yankton was $3.421 on June 12. This is down 0.2 cents from last week and 14.5 cents from a month ago. On June 12 of last year, the average price for a gallon of gas in Yankton was $3.666.

Gas prices are also down in Vermillion. The average price in Vermillion is $3.466, which is down 10.4 cents from last month. The average price of gas in Vermillion at this point last year was $3.684.

The South Dakota state average for regular self-serve gasoline is $3.53 per gallon, which is slightly below the national average of $3.56.

Both the nationwide and state averages are down significantly from where they were last year. On June 12, 2011, the statewide average was $3.75 and the national average was $3.71 for a gallon of regular self-serve gasoline.

The price of gasoline peaked in early April 2011, when the average price for a gallon of regular self-serve gasoline was $3.94. The national retail price of gasoline has gone down in 55 of the last 57 days.

Marilyn Buskohl, spokeswoman for AAA South Dakota, believes the lower gasoline prices have big implications for tourism throughout the state.

“In quarter one of this year, gas prices were high so people became prepared for the prices to increase,” Buskohl said. “However, that has not been the case.”

She added that the lower prices give consumers more income to spend, which is positive for businesses and the communities as a whole.

“(The lower gas prices) should be very good for tourism,” she said.

However, Jacquie Fuks, executive director of the Southeast South Dakota Tourism Association, does not think that the lower gas prices have had a major impact on tourism in the area.

“I don’t think the lower prices will make all that much of a difference,” she said. “People work hard and deserve a               vacation.”

Fuks added that the increased tourism numbers are huge in a community like Yankton because people that come to town visiting spend money while they are here, which helps businesses keep their doors open.

She also noted that tourism numbers were up throughout the entire region, and said that the combination of lower gas prices, nice weather and no flooding this year have all contributed to it.

Overall, visitor members are up significantly in Yankton.

At the end of May, the numbers at Lewis and Clark Recreation Area were up 29 percent from where they were at this point last year.

However, Van Meeteren anticipates those numbers flattening out.

“We are hoping the numbers end up being up about 12 percent from last year when the season is over,” he said. “These could be as high as 15 percent.”

Last year was the first time in more than a decade hat tourism numbers were down in Yankton, which was attributed to the severe flooding that occurred. The numbers declined by about two percent last year, despite Lewis and Clark Recreation Area adding 41 new campsites— about a 10 percent increase from the number of sites they previously had.

“The higher the gas prices are, the more locally people travel,” he said. “They can make multiple trips to local parks, compared to just one trip to a national park.”

In addition to the lower gas prices, Van Meeteren said that weather is the biggest factor on the tourism numbers at Lewis and Clark Lake. He said that this years camping season began about three weeks earlier than previous years because of the nice weather.

“There has been a pent-up demand to go camping because of last years flooding,” Van Meeteren said.