The state Senate's top Democrat is questioning why South Dakota tourism officials omitted negative trends from a news release about visitor spending.

The Office of Tourism in last week's release said visitor spending in South Dakota had grown by 2.8 percent in 2008 to a record $967 million.

The release, based on a recent study's findings, did not note the "real" change in visitor spending of negative 2.5 percent, calculated by subtracting a measure of inflation from the 2.8 percent "nominal" growth rate. It also didn't mention an estimated loss of 901 tourism-related jobs and a $500,000 decline in state sales-tax collections from vacation travelers.

"They're misleading the public, and they're doing it deliberately," said State Sen. Scott Heidepriem, D-Sioux Falls.

Melissa Bump, director of the Office of Tourism, and spokeswoman Wanda Goodman said the information was omitted to keep the news release consistent with past practices and adhere to standard reporting methods in the industry.

They said including inflation-adjusted growth rates would be inconsistent, as they weren't provided in prior-year releases and are typically not reported by other states' releases.

Goodman added that inflation-adjusted numbers require more explanation than can be effectively communicated in a release.

"We can't put absolutely everything in every press release we put out there, but we're certainly available, and we've never tried to hide that information," Goodman said. "If asked, we're more than willing to give the whole story."

Heidepriem said the whole story should be given without anyone having to ask for it so residents can evaluate the success or failure of the program.

"We can't do that if they come at the numbers from a predetermined position of supporting the status quo," he said.

Faced with declining state tax collections in a worsening economy, Gov. Mike Rounds has proposed a revised budget that cuts programs and raises additional revenue by boosting fees and getting rid of some tax exemptions.

After reserves are used, about $70 million in cuts and extra revenue will be needed to balance the budget in the last half of this year and in the budget year that begins July 1, Rounds has said.

Heidepriem said the budget woes make the tourism numbers particularly timely, given Rounds' proposal to protect tourism programs from cuts that are likely to impact many other recipients of state funding.

"The essential question in a time like this, is 'What is a necessary service of state government, and is the proper allocation to short education and infants and the deaf and the elderly and favor the tourism advertising budget, knowing that the results are at best questionable?'" Heidepriem said.

Goodman said the 2008 results were positive, judging by comments made at last week's state tourism conference.

"That's really the overriding message - not are we up or are we down, but are we happy with how we fared this year?" Goodman said. "And in talking to the people at the tourism conference that we just had last week, there was a positive vibe throughout the conference, throughout the industry, and they were looking forward to 2009 and they were staying optimistic."