How Oregon's travel and tourism industry is doing since the pandemic

[Music] from KGW News this is straight talk with Laurel Porter travel and tourism almost ground to a halt in 2020 as the covid-19 pandemic swept the world just weeks before the start of the summer travel season it was devastating for travelers but even more so for people who make their living in hospitality and tourism three years later summer is here again and the picture has changed events are beginning to return to full capacity flights are booked solid and hotels and restaurants are just waiting for you to visit but a lot has changed in the last three years today we're taking a look at some of those changes how they've affected the tourism industry and what you need to know as you make your summer plans thank you for joining us I'm Brenda Braxton in for Laurel Porter so as we kick off summer my guests today are Todd Davidson with travel Oregon and Jeff Miller the president of travel Portland welcome both it's great to have you here thank you Brenda great to be here with you so I know we're going to dive into the details in just a moment but first if we can take the 30 000 foot View and tell us Todd I'll start with you give us an overview are things returning to normal in the state what are we seeing as far as Travelers here it's a it's a great opening question Brenda you know and you're you're opening comments were were spot on in in 2019 before the pandemic travel and tourism had grown to become a 12.8 billion dollar industry for the state of Oregon employing nearly a hundred and twenty thousand oregonians it was our 10th consecutive year of growth in 2020 that number was literally cut in half six and a half billion dollars and that that's where we were in 2003 just to put it in perspective but last year travel and tourism visitor spending in Oregon was 13.9 billion dollars so ahead of where we were in 2019 driven by an increase in demand for travel to Oregon also some inflationary pressures as well we know the fuel and food for example are more expensive than they were in 2019 so there's that factor that's in there as well employment is not quite all the way backward about 117 500 versus about 120 000 employees that we saw in in 2019 but we're very encouraged by what we're seeing in terms of the resiliency of the industry and the growth that we're experiencing in The Rebound in employment the rebounded visitor spending and the rebound and the taxes that visitors are generating across the state for communities as well as for the state what do we know about where those Travelers are coming from great question uh we are looking at our visitor spending numbers and we're able to tell that roughly 40 percent of that 13.9 billion dollars is is being spent by oregonians we love our state we love getting out and experiencing all that Oregon has to offer and so 40 percent of that economic impact is coming from Oregonian 60 percent is coming from out of state and international visitors and one of the most telling things for me was that of that 13.9 billion dollars roughly five percent came from International that's below where we normally are we're normally at about 12 percent we're on one out of every eight dollars in being spent in Oregon comes from an international visitor we were only at five percent and a lot of that is an indication of that lagging recovery of international visitation to Oregon one last question on that front um what are they spending their money on can you give us the top two or three things well it's primarily as a you know it's lodging it's meals it's it's outdoor activities and other activities it's admissions to Galleries and events and museums and and and other attractions as well so primarily it's it's lodging food and beverage and then attractions and and activities okay Jeff I know uh Portland has had a much steeper Hill to climb um it definitely has impacted travel in the city but how much has it affected travel I think in this coming year we will be back at 85 percent of 2019 which is a really nice increase from where we were and you know we believe in the next two years we'll we'll surpass 2019 easily so I was kind of wondering about this and we chatted briefly but do you think that portlanders are harder on the city than people coming from out of state or even out of the country you know you tend to hear a lot in the media that's a little more pessimistic but I have friends I was telling you in Seattle in LA and they're like I'm buying a house here I love the restaurants here and they don't have to see they don't seem to have any of that bias toward the city yeah we do both National sentiment survey and local sentiment survey and what we find on the national level is that we are back to where we were in 2019 the country for the most part has moved on from The Narrative that portlanders are hanging on to we do know that if you live in Portland you School younger and you've been downtown recently you are much more likely to invite your friends and family to visit and so while that number is down a bit from what it was in 2019 which was 81 percent it's coming back and if we can get people into the core and see what it actually looks like they they then change their tune and they believe and that that's really going to help us you know Brenda I might just add that together travel Portland Travel Oregon or you know working very closely especially in a lot of our International markets and in particular we've hosted International journalists and international tour operators over the last few months and many of them were like we want to see we wanted to see Portland for ourselves and they've been very pleasantly surprised so I think your point is very well taken as is the indications from Jeff's research so I know the national media as well has definitely hammered Portland um Let's Talk About Time Magazine though because that is a bright spot it was named one of the best places last year we talked with the author of that article and she said what stood out to her was Portland's food scene and she said she doesn't feel unsafe here let's take a listen to what she told us you know I I never felt uncomfortable I lit I stayed in downtown I walked around late in the evening so for me I I think the city is different from what media points it out yes things happen everywhere but it's only once we go there and experience it that we really know what is actually going on you know to Echo our point what else would you like visitors to know about Portland you know it's interesting because we've hosted 96 travel writers in the first three quarters of the year with 250 positive articles on Portland around the country and around the world and so go to the restaurants see what's going on walk around the city it is a safe City and you can come downtown travel Riders are seeing it and they love it this was a writer that we actually worked with so right now downtown is bustling because of course we've got the Rose Festival the parades are returning to downtown last weekend we have the Starlight parade tens of thousands of people were down here crowds have gathered for the last few weeks for City fair along the Waterfront so Jeff what kind of impact do these events have helping Portland recover especially downtown you know there it's everything that is the best about Portland and we see people enjoying the city we actually hosted a familiarization group of Meeting Planners because of Rose Festival so they could see the vibrancy of the city and see how exciting it is and those sorts of things work showing people the city firsthand always changes their minds you remember back in the day we had something called The Rose Festival low when it would rain but the weather has been fantastic and that always gets more people out what are you really excited about this summer I'm really excited about the food scene I mean we just have three brand new James Beard award winners yes it puts a focus on the food scene we're doing events pop-up events in New York San Francisco and Seattle with bipoc creators and so we're telling we're out telling that story and what that's going to get people really interested in the culinary scene which is a major driver for Portland okay let's talk about hotels for a moment first in Portland we've reported that several major hotels for faced foreclosure in recent months your data shows that bookings have declined substantially from 2019 room rates revenues both down Jeff what's the Outlook in Portland for hotels right now yeah they are coming back and they're coming back strong we have a very good convention calendar this year we we just presented to Hotel ownership this morning and everything's moving in a positive direction and so our hope is that people really understand that the central core of the city is what's going to drive recovery so we've also got Portland's first five-star hotel the Ritz Carlton which is set to open this summer downtown rooms cost about 5.75 a

night are you optimistic that Portland can attract people who are ready to spend that kind of money um I'm I know it will happen I spoke to actually Gregory gourde and he has people flying in from all over the country for his restaurant that those customers are going to want the Ritz Carlton there is plenty of things for people to do that are going to want the Ritz Carlton and Todd you mentioned International Travelers earlier what do you attribute the rise in international Travelers too well what we've you know a couple of things that sadly were tied to the pandemic Global Travel air travel was just all but shut down and many of our international flights were were suspended now we've seen the Resurgence the return in the Resurgence of our international flights to Europe into Canada and New Mexico our flights to Asia are not restored yet and it's one of the reasons that we're seeing visitors spending from International visitors last year at five percent rather than a more traditional 12 percent uh so you know Japan Korea China had been primary markets for Oregon uh prior to the pandemic and so to not have those three markets back has has had a suppressing effect on the overall impact of international travel but the the Europeans are traveling again especially now that we've seen the U.S lift its requirements on International inbound Travelers having to either be tested or vaccinated etc those were lifted in May so we're I think we're finally going to be at a point where we're going to return to at least a sense of normalcy uh at least something closer to normal that we that we will see uh from Europe from Canada from Mexico and hopefully soon from Asia as well we talk often about Portland but are there other cities that are seeing kind of this Resurgence like where else are people visiting you know Statewide we've seen a very strong Resurgence we we talk about regions when we talk about uh the work that we do at Travel Oregon and there's seven distinct tourism regions that that we work with around the state and each of those regions have seen similar recovery different levels of recovery and different speeds of recovery especially when you think about during covet everyone was encouraged to be outdoors well where would you go if you were to go outdoors and so Southern Oregon the coast Central Oregon Eastern Oregon we're seeing you know very strong recoveries very early and again depending on the market mix you know if you were more dependent on business travel Group Travel meetings and Convention travel like Portland and communities in the Willamette Valley that recovery might have been a little slower because those things were not happening yet but even even though the leisure travel may have been coming back but for the most part we've seen a pretty solid return Statewide let's talk about the hospitality industry because as we've been mentioning it took a big hit during the pandemic for obvious reasons but can you talk a little bit about the shortages that we're still seeing how short are we talking well I think that you know the biggest thing now is having more employees and the workforce is coming back people are interested in the hospitality industry businesses restaurants in particular are booming so their recovery is happening and people need to pay more attention to seeing it you know just putting it in perspective you look at as I mentioned earlier the travel in tourism prior to covet was 120 000 employed 120 000 oregonians um Oregon as a state lost about 180 000 jobs due to the pandemic half of those roughly 47 percent were in travel and tourism you know so roughly 80 000 of that hundred and eighty thousand of those 180 000 jobs were in were in the travel and tourism industry Nationwide there's still one and a half million job openings in the travel and tourism industry it's roughly 15 of all the job openings are still in the travel and tourism industry so there there is that Workforce shortage that our businesses are needing to adapt to in order to be open and to return to a level of profitability and three County region 32 000 jobs are supported by tourism it was 36 000 before the pandemic so we are close to coming back do you have a take though on why they're so hard to fill I think it's a national problem at every level of hospitality and and in every industry and so what we're seeing is uh hotels restaurants are paying more those uh workers are coming back because it's it's an exciting industry what needs to be done to help both the travel Portland and travel Oregon what else needs to be done to boost tourism you know we just made our annual report to city council yesterday and we have full support for them on making sure the city is safe livable we can get cleaned up graffiti and all of that is happening and we just need that to continue you know that's a um Jeff's point is a is a solid one for for Oregon in general we we heard from many of our folks throughout the state that were you know concerned about how our colleagues in in Portland were doing because uh oftentimes where goes Portland should also go the state and so there was a there was definitely that concern and so Portland making those Investments and making those strides is important to the entire State's travel and tourism industry as well but being able to facilitate the ease of travel uh throughout this throughout the state to make it easier for folks to be able to navigate all of our our state has to offer to ensure that Oregon is feeling welcoming to all and that all of our visitors know that we're wherever you may travel in Oregon you're you're going to be safe and valued and have these amazing transformative visitor experiences is probably the number one thing we should focus on I know things are a little stalled in the legislature right now but you must have the ear of lawmakers as far as you know suggesting these things and really talking about what state leaders need to do for both the city of Portland and the other communities Statewide you know for us we've I I go back to 2003 when the Statewide lodging tax was was first put into place and that's our primary funding source and a big part of that was also making sure that local resources local lodging taxes were also protected for the travel and tourism industry overall that Synergy is incredibly important to make sure that there's not only a dedicated stable funding source at the state level but similarly at the local level because so much of what we do as it is with travel Portland and travel Oregon is done in alignment it's done in collaboration we're just that much more impactful in the marketplace when our messages in our marketplaces are aligned all right don't go anywhere we have a lot more to talk about so when we come back we are going to be talking about Oregon's hidden gems that you may want to check out plus a new initiative to help you reduce your impact on the in environments you visit and what you need to know about Wildfire season we're back in two minutes foreign [Music] back to straight talk I'm Brenda Braxton in for Laurel and we are kicking off summer talking with travel Portland and travel uh Oregon so I want to ask you both about a big National headline first and foremost Wildfire season I know you've seen the pictures of what's Happening back East all of the wildfires in Canada the smoke is blowing down it's just obliterating views I'm here on the West Coast we know about those as well things get super Smoky we can kind of count on it now at least once a summer Todd let me start with you what do visitors need to know about Wildfire season you know first of all Brenda I just want to be really clear that our hearts go out to the folks in Canada that are wrestling with these wildfires right now and those impacts directly and then obviously our fellow Americans on the East Coast that are dealing with the impacts of the Wildfire smoke you know and what we're what we're hearing about that we in Oregon are very familiar with that we've had our Wildfire years that have been so severely impacted by this by the smoke and what we're hearing right now is that the Northwest interagency coordinating council is is telling us that NOAA is forecasting a warmer and drier summer than normal so again the situation is going to be ripe for potential Wildfire season a severe Wildfire season the number one thing visitors can do is just to be careful so many of our fires are wildfires are human caused so if we're careful we can reduce the number of wildfires dramatically so being careful out there being aware while the where the wildfires are and there's information on traveloregon.com as we enter the Wildfire season so folks can use that website to be able to you know check if there are wildfires that might be impacting their their travel and the areas that they want to go while they're while they're out there but the forecast is that this could be a significant Wildfire season so we can get in front of it now with our own behaviors we're going to be able to make a difference and you know there's so much Greenery we have Forest Park right in the city we don't have to go somewhere to kind of feel like we're in the wilderness what about the impact on the city for tourism when it comes to wildfires you know it's significant because we are such a green City and and there is always that danger in in Forest Park but we get people into downtown get them into the museums all those indoor activities that only Portland has and so we we hope that we won't be impacted this year but if we are there are alternative things to keep people excited you know many Travelers are starting to wonder about their own impact on the environments that they visit especially in the outdoors you know we've seen areas with cars overflowing parking lots and people crowding outdoor areas some hiking areas have had to introduce those time permits because they can't fit everybody in there comfortably what are some ways Todd that people can actually reduce their footprints on the places that they visit got a couple of great ideas for you Brenda we've we've made a very intentional move at Travel Oregon to position ourselves and to see ourselves and really in a way we formulate ourselves as an agency that is focused on destination stewardship and that means one of the lenses that we do all of our work through is what we call a regenerative tourism lens and regenerative tourism basically means we're all very familiar with leave no Trace right leave nothing but Footprints take nothing but photographs and it's been an amazing you know PSA campaign what regenerative travel is is that visitors can actually leave it better not just have no impact you can actually leave it better and we've been able to run a couple of pilot programs in the Willamette Valley where for example we had worked with a local tour operator private business to offer a program on the McKinsey River Valley for example where visitors could purchase a package that included meals lodging and activities and you could wrap the MacKenzie River you could mountain bike or hike the MacKenzie River Trail but you were also spending time in the woods helping replant these areas that had been devastated by the wildfires of 2020. so they were literally buying a package where they were going into a community to give back they left it better than they found it they didn't only leave no Trace they left a trace and it was one of positive benefit I grew up here in Oregon and I feel like that is The Oregonian Spirit right there agreed I love that yeah what about here in Portland how can people make their stay a little more sustainable you know one of the things that we tell Meeting Planners by bringing your convention here it will automatically be greener our Convention Center Leed certified our hotels our green seal certified so just by being here using the max the walking blocks you are automatically going to have a Greener experience in the city of Portland than pretty much any place else in the country before we started I ask you to how long you've known each other and it's almost 20 years can you give us an overview because you've had so much experience in the city and in the state about your optimism about things that give us that big picture because sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in the minutia that we can't see the big Vision I'll start with Utah sure you know the the reason I do what I do is because I believe in the power of the travel and tourism industry to create good jobs for oregonians too often folks may look at the travel and tourism Industries creating jobs that may be part-time seasonal minimum wage jobs and it's like you're missing 90 of the story you know there are jobs in the travel and tourism industry that are part-time minimum wage seasonal jobs but they're few and far between so many of the jobs are for example sole proprietorships where the owners showing up every morning to unlock the front door and they're offering an amazing white water rafting experience or fly fishing experience or they're a specialty retail you know especially maker here in the city of Port land opening their storefront to visitors from around the world I mean that's Oregon and that's our visitor experience here so you know that's why I do what I do because I continue to believe in the power of this industry to create good jobs for oregonians the thing I would say is that Portland is loved by portlanders and we want it to be a great place to live first and foremost because that's people want to visit here to be a portlander and what we see is that those jobs and those reaching out and being a part of the community is really the optimistic part and people get to experience a little bit of this place when they're here and they love that okay I cannot get too far off track because I want to talk about the hidden gems places that maybe don't get enough love and we need to highlight I'll start with you Todd what would you recommend you know what I would recommend is that visitors check into what's a fairly new phenomenon globally but Oregon has an opportunity to really capitalize it on it and it's this dark sky opportunity dark sky tourism you know this is getting outside of places that have ambient light and yes there are places that are close to Portland that offer that so you can oh look at that picture overnight wow stay overnight in Portland and still be able to head out you know experience the City by day and then actually experience the dark sky by night right outside of Portland but also places like the Oregon Outback you know Klamath Lake Harney malheur County you know that that area of Oregon very little ambient light we have tour guides in Oregon that can now take you out and help you experience the the dark sky to understand the Milky Way in the galaxies and the astronomy and all that goes with it and so you can have these full Rich experiences and get to see parts of the state you might otherwise not get to okay we've only got about 30 seconds but what's your neighborhoods get out into the neighborhoods Portland has hidden gems in every neighborhood from food carts to retail to little small museums that you wouldn't think about so get into the neighborhoods and go to travelportland.com to find them I love that Todd Jeff thank you both for being here and thank you for watching as well Laurel will be back next week she's talking with Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio until then remember you can also catch Straight Talk wherever you listen to podcasts have a great week thank you

2023-06-10 16:43

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