2017 Sturgis Rally economic impact reportedly $738 million

Nearly a half-million people attended this year’s Sturgis Rally, according to a release from the city Wednesday.

The “official” rally count, which is at best a guess, is 480,000 people. With that crowd, the city estimates that the total economic impact of the 2017 rally is $738 million.

During an after-rally summit, Sturgis city manager Daniel Ainslie said area business owners want to know how they can better market to rally visitors.

“The economic impact of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has a far reach,” Ainslie said in a release. “When you can gather visitor information through social media interactions, surveys and sales tax numbers, you get a very clear picture of the wants and needs of the rally visitor. From that point, you can be very specific and much more effective when advertising to those visitors.”

The two-day rally summit was a one-stop shop for people get information as well as provide suggestions on how to best use the information when planning future marketing plans.

Summit topics included demographics of attendees, digital marketing efforts, statistics gathered from the official Sturgis Motorcycle Rally website and Facebook pages, identification of new visitor trends, and expectations for 2018.