Oregon Tourism Commission

Staff Report | December 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Optimize Statewide Economic Impact........................................................................... 2

Align and optimize integrated sales, marketing and destination development strategies with Oregon’s tourism industry ............................................................................................... 2

Drive business from key global markets through integrated sales/marketing plans leveraged with global partners and domestic travel trade ................................................... 18

Facilitate the development of world-class tourism product in partnership with community leaders, tourism businesses and key agencies .................................................. 22

Guide tourism in a way that achieves the optimal balance of visitation, economic impact, natural resources conservation and livability ....................................................................... 23

Inspire overnight leisure travel through industry-leading branding, marketing and communications ...................................................................................................................... 23

Support and Empower Oregon’s Tourism Industry ................................................................. 24

Provide development and training opportunities to meet the evolving tourism industry needs ......................................................................................................................................... 24

Implement industry leading visitor information network ................................................... 28

Fully realize statewide, strategic integration of OTIS (Oregon Tourism Information System) .................................................................................................................................... 28

Deploy tourism programs (e.g. RCTP, Competitive Grants) in a powerful way that fulfills unique opportunities and challenges as defined by the tourism industry .......................... 28

Champion the Value of Tourism ................................................................................................... 31

Grow and align strategic partnerships to leverage resources and capacity to address key issues ........................................................................................................................................ 31

Empower and equip Oregon’s tourism industry with power of travel and issue-oriented messages .................................................................................................................................. 32

Run an Effective Business ..............................................................................................................36

Prioritize the implementation of technology to make Travel Oregon more effective and efficient .................................................................................................................................... 37

Attract, develop and retain top talent .................................................................................... 37

Continuously review, improve and document policies and processes/procedures ........... 37

Improve internal alignment amongst Travel Oregon departments .................................... 38

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 2

OPTIMIZE STATEWIDE ECONOMIC IMPACT

Align and optimize integrated sales, marketing and destination development strategies with Oregon’s tourism

industry

FALL 2017 RESULTS Our Fall 2017 campaign focused on the power of two partnerships to inspire overnight leisure travel. Here is an overview and the results of each:

FEAST

The Travel Oregon partnership with Feast, now in its sixth year, is an effective way for regions to showcase their culinary product to a global audience of foodies, influencers and media. This year Feast attracted 17,948 attendees (31% from outside Oregon, 88% age 25-64, and 56% with a household income over $120K). Twenty-three top-tier national media and influencers, including reporters from Huffington Post, Sunset Magazine, Chef’s Table (Netflix), and Liquor.com, went on Travel Oregon hosted trips to the Central Coast, Central to Eastern Oregon, Southern Oregon, or Mt. Hood. Pre-Feast coverage included articles in the Huffington Post, Vancouver Foodster and many food blogs including Feed Me Dearly and Urban Bliss Life with additional stories expected.

Pre-Feast blog photos from Willamette Valley wine country and Sauvie Island trips

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 3

Other highlights from Travel Oregon’s partnership with Feast include: More than 30 artisan products

from every region featured in the Feast Portland Hospitality Lounge Presented by Travel Oregon at Provenance Hotels

More than 90 media attended the media breakfast featuring Travel Oregon and spotlighting the pre-Feast media trips

More than 35 Oregon (outside of Portland) chefs, artisans, breweries, wineries and distilleries features throughout the festival weekend

Seven festival partnerships with key Travel Oregon Strategic partners: Oregon Berries, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Wine Board, Oregon State University, Travel Portland, Oregon Cheese Guild and the Port of Portland.

Oregon Wines Fly Free The Oregon Wines Fly Free partnership between the Oregon Wine Board (OWB), Alaska Airlines and Travel Oregon drives tasting room trips, direct wine sales and allows partners to promote Oregon wine product year-round. This year we saw the following results:

• 300 participating wineries • 17,263 entries to the “Oregon Wines Fly Free” sweepstakes • 2,102 new culinary newsletter confirms • 4,512 Wine Board leads • 175,693 dedicated e-mail recipients (20% open rate, 30% click

though rate) • Facebook Reach: 106,001, Leads: 2,211, Cost per lead: $1.65

WINTER 2017/18 CAMPAIGN Two Winter marketing promotions are currently running with separate goals, media targets and creative activations:

• Travel Oregon: The Game (TOTG) on TravelOregon.com • Winter Passage: An Oregon Retrospective full format video and ski and snowboard cutdowns

on The Enthusiastic Network (TEN)

From left to right: Alex Frane (freelance food/drink writer), Matthew Eyman (Yelp Portland), Rachel Pinn (Texas influencer), Missy Maki (KPAM)

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 4

Travel Oregon: The Game TEN (Ski Film)

Timing Oct. 26 - Dec. 16, 2017 Oct. 20 - Dec. 31, 2017 Story Broad Niche Markets Niche

(Oregon + drive markets) Broad (Mountain states)

Visitor Lifecycle Phase

Inspiration, planning, booking Inspiration

Travel Oregon: The Game Available on TravelOregon.com from Oct. 26 – Dec. 16, 2017, TOTG educates consumers about the range of winter destinations and activities across Oregon, from mountain biking in the Columbia River Gorge and truffle hunting in the Willamette Valley to ice skating in Central Oregon and steelhead fishing in Southern Oregon. The game also gives consumers a tool for finding out more information about each region (on traveloregon.com) and booking overnight lodging (on Expedia). Overall goals for the game are:

• Game plays • Links to deeper content on TravelOregon.com and/or Expedia's Oregon product page • Shares of the game

TravelOregon.com: Consumers can “Chat Up a Local” in each region of the game that links them to deeper trip-planning content on TravelOregon.com. In Southern Oregon, Hard of Hearing Henry tells you about the Winter Wings Festival (aka “Woodstock for Birders”) and offers you a link to the full story. WVVA landing page from the game on Expedia.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 5

Media Overview: To drive awareness and encourage game play among our “active adventurer” target, we are:

• Running :15 and :06 videos on Hulu, Zefr, Discovery Channel, Conversant, Undertone and Reddit, and :15 audio spots on Pandora

• Leveraging content partners for deeper storytelling and contextual alignment (BuzzFeed, Atlas Obscura, Nativo)

• Capturing lower funnel demand through travel intent targeting and OTA partnerships (Expedia).

Content Overview: To support this year’s winter campaign, we sent influencer Lindsey Murphy on an epic road trip that roughly follows the seven-region loop in the game. We will be posting :30 “bite-sized episodes” online and on social media channels about Lindsey’s experience hiking the Trail of Dreams, fly fishing on the N. Umpqua, and riding a FUN cycle on the coast. Our “Insider’s Guide to the Oregon Trail” is a historical feature on TO.com that highlights places in Oregon where travelers can immerse themselves in the heritage of the mass-migration that forever changed the West. Hosted by Emily Grosvenor, who once played a live-action Oregon Trail game and wrote about it for The Atlantic, this piece focuses on the historical significance of the trail told from multiple perspectives and the modern visitor experience. Social Overview: We are using a two-phase approach to social media. In Phase 1, we are posting ten short videos (3 X :15 and 7 X :06’s) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to create awareness of the game and drive gameplay. In Phase 2, we will retarget click ads to consumers who have seen the videos, driving them to TravelOregon.com for deeper content. This strategy will provide users who are served with click ads further context and a greater incentive to click through to TravelOregon.com.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 6

The social team is also looking for opportunities to further drive sharing and awareness of the game by using pop culture moments to showcase the iconic tombstone. An example of this use was immediately following the Nov. 2nd NBA game between the Trailblazers and the Los Angeles Lakers. Damian Lillard's last second game-winning three-point shot, ensured that the Blazers beat the Lakers for the 13th consecutive time. We tweeted a tombstone in honor of this occasion and it has become one of our most engaging tweets this year with nearly 30,000 impressions and more than 1,200 engagements. Co-Op Overview: Five regional partners are participating in our Winter co-op which is designed to drive more traffic to individual regional booking pages through banners in the Expedia network of sites (Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotwire, Cheaptickets, Hotels.com) and/or keyword search.

PR Overview: PR strategies are helping us generate high-quality earned media coverage that highlights Oregon’s unique winter destinations:

• Campaign launch press release distributed across national wire. o More than ten stories placed in the first two weeks of the campaign, including

in (Food & Wine, Vice, Lonely Planet) and one KGW on-air segment. • Customized tombstone ‘meme’ pitch for media sent along with targeted pitches to

local, regional and national media contacts • Dependent on budget: Lyft Activation utilizing a covered wagon and mules during

one-week period in December/January in downtown Portland • Broadcast outreach to local and national outlets for on-air gameplay opportunity • Segment with KPTV More Good Day Oregon on Nov. 15

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 7

For comparison, here are side-by-side results of the Oregon Weather Compass campaign and Travel Oregon: The Game: OWC TOTG Lifetime of Campaign 10/26 - 11/8

Refreshes/Plays 20,170 35,482 Shares/Downloads 484 1,294

Clicks to Deeper Content 2,092 16,445 The Enthusiast Network (TEN) Ski Film Travel Oregon welcomed winter with the launch of the film “Winter Passage: An Oregon Retrospective” on TEN, which includes GrindTV.com, Powder.com, TWSnowboarder.com and Snowboarder.com. Designed to promote Oregon’s unique winter snow product, this niche film project follows the journey of photographer Mark McInnis sharing his love for the diversity of this amazing place. The film’s tribute to Oregon’s ski and surf culture features icons like Gerry and Alex Lopez loving their local mountain, and why ski patrollers Kristie Beavert and Libby Koroch can't quit Oregon skiing.

Social Media Overview: As with TOTG, we are using a two-phase approach to promote the ski film on social media. In Phase 1, we are posting links to the teaser, full format, ski cutdown and snowboard cutdown on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In Phase 2, we are retargeting click ads to consumers who have seen the videos, driving them to TravelOregon.com for deeper content, including our Winter Sweepstakes.

TravelOregon.com: Our winter snow sports page has been updated to include a photo essay by Mark McInnis, the roaming Pacific Northwest photographer featured in the ski film, along with winter trip ideas like “Skiing Spree in Anthony Lakes,” “Beyond Skiing at Mt. Bachelor” and “Oregon Winter 101.”

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 8

Winter Sweepstakes: To create a strong call-to-action to get consumers from TEN media sites to Travel Oregon, we’re giving away a ski and surf package that includes:

• 2 round-trip tickets on Alaska Airlines

• 2 nights at The Riverhouse on the Deschutes in Bend

• 4 lift tickets to Mt. Bachelor • 1 night at the Surf Sand Resort in Cannon Beach • 1 pair of skis from SnoPlanks • 1 surfboard from Murdey Surfboards

OREGON TRAIL 175TH COMMEMORATION The Oregon Trails coalition is a collection of RDMOs, DMOs and state agency partner groups that are directly involved with the Oregon Trail and interested in the commemoration

• Includes EOVA, Hood/Gorge, Travel Oregon, Travel Portland, Oregon Mount Hood Territory, Oregon Travel Experience, Oregon State Parks, Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon Heritage Commission

• Alice Trindle (EOVA) has acted as lead convener, three meetings have been held at Travel Oregon with representatives from Global Marketing, Global Strategic Partnerships and Global Sales

Travel Oregon created deeper content featuring the Oregon Trail that supports the TOTG campaign launch. Highlights include:

• Narrative video series follows the route of the Travel Oregon: The Game’s trail through the seven regions featuring unique points of interest

• Historical Oregon Trail featured stories • Content hub on TravelOregon.com

On October 25th the coalition reviewed Oregon Trail content and landing page with partners and created action items/next steps. The stakeholder group will convene monthly beginning November 2017.

Travel Oregon has earmarked $10,000 for content development that will be promoted and featured on TravelOregon.com, as well as partner websites and platforms.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 9

Winter Summary / What to Expect Next Working together, the game on TravelOregon.com and the film on TEN allow us to reach further than one campaign would allow. Travel Oregon: The Game is inspiring Oregonians (and consumers in nearby drive markets) to get in their cars and travel within the state while the TEN film is inspiring primarily skiers and snowboarders in ten western and mountain states (CA, ID, WY, CO, WA, AZ, MT, UT, NV, NM) to come to Oregon to enjoy our unique winter snow sports product.

SPRING 2018 CAMPAIGN UPDATE In March 2018, we will introduce a new campaign that inspires people from further away to come visit Oregon. Using beautiful, sweeping, bright, enchanting and inviting animation, we will showcase places in Oregon in new innovative ways that are true and honest to the spirit of Oregon. We see this campaign living across multiple seasons over the next few years, across Travel Oregon channels and internationally.

Production Update: We are currently in the process of finalizing a :90 script that meets Travel Oregon regional equity and environmental sustainability criteria. In addition to outdoor, social and PR content, we will produce the following 12 TV spots: 1 X :90 7 X :06 4 X :15

We are currently in talks with the Oregon symphony to explore collaborating on the soundtrack.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 10

Next Steps: 90 script approval Creative work session with TO/WK/Psyop at Timberline lodge (11/7/17) Spring TV ships (03/06/18)

CAPITOL CHRISTMAS TREE PROJECT For 2018, the US Capitol Christmas tree is coming from our very own Willamette National Forest (WNF), specifically the area around Sweet Home, Oregon. This will be announced with a press release around January 2018. How Travel Oregon is involved: For the past several years, the USFS has contracted with Choose Outdoors for transportation, tours, marketing and collateral supporting the promotion of the Capitol Christmas tree. Choose Outdoors owns and manages the web domain capitolchristmastree.com. This year, the WNF has decided to do this differently and worked with WVVA to approach Travel Oregon for our marketing expertise. Travel Oregon has the marketing structure and capabilities our friends at the WNF simply do not have on staff. WNF has a budget of $50,000 for marketing/community support and has signed a cost share agreement with Travel Oregon to achieve the following goals:

• Community engagement • Marketing the WNF and public lands in Oregon

An internal Travel Oregon team met with USFS team on November 2nd to outline goals, key messages, stakeholder strategy and work back schedule. We are looking to bring on contractors to help with communications plans and logo design. DIGITAL CONSUMER PLATFORMS Buoyed by a strong July and August, traffic to TravelOregon.com, RideOregonRide.com and YouMightLikeOregon.com was up slightly at 0.4% in Q1 (July-September) compared the same period last year. For Q1, engaged users were down 6.33% compared to the prior year (218,155 users this quarter compared to 232,895). As stated in the last response report, organic traffic continues to be on the decline. In addition, going dark in social due to the fires could also have impacted site traffic. For this quarter specifically, we’re investigating why 87 keywords dropped out of the page 1 of Google search results since site launch, despite ensuring that all redirects were implemented.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 11

We are also continuing to work with Miles Media to ensure that we identify opportunities to improve the completeness and quality of Oregon’s presence across the search ecosystem despite this trend.

TravelOregon.com (MVP)

As presented in the Commission meeting in Cannon Beach, key projects this quarter are:

• Migration of SkiOregon.org into Travel Oregon’s ski section (timeframe: November-December 2017)

• Integration of Eastern Oregon’s site into TravelOregon.com (estimate launch – January 2018)

• Launch of Multi-Point-Maps (MPM) feature on TO.com will allow us to showcase trails, itineraries and other map driven content more robustly.

Travel Oregon Visitor Guide Orders (MVP)

There was a 110.1% increase in guide orders to the website in Q1; travel interest driven by the eclipse was a big factor in this quarterly success. While September was down 51.1%, we expect higher yields during the winter campaign.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 12

Social Media (MVP)

The major story of this quarter is the eclipse. Oregon’s first-in-nation status and multiple locations to view totality for the 2017 solar eclipse resulted in a spike in engagement across all social media. Consider:

• Twitter’s 11,328 engagements in August was the highest level of engagement in 2017 and the highest seen since May 2016 (14,496); it also exceeded the monthly averages we've seen since the beginning of the year (5,314 average monthly engagements) and represented a 113.17% increase.

• After traffic to TravelOregon.com from Twitter decreased month over month for the first time in three months in July, website clicks rebounded in August as 3,018 website clicks were earned in August - a 65.19% increase from July (1,827 website clicks).

• On Facebook, three videos promoting the Solar Eclipse -- one of the Brooks Winery FB Live, another capturing time lapse footage from Brooks Winery, and the last a time lapse from Mary’s Peak -- were hands down August's top performing content pieces in terms of all engagement metrics.

• On Instagram, engagement was up 20.37% in August

Email Marketing (MVP)

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 13

Travel Oregon’s consumer email marketing programs were identified as a key initiative for FY17/18. The email programs allow for ongoing communication with potential travelers to keep Oregon top of mind. Therefore, we created a new metric that tracks the net gain or loss across all our consumer lists: general, culinary and outdoor.

• List Growth: o To gain a better understanding of the engagement levels with our lists, we’ve

started to track a new metric we’re calling “active subscribers.” Active subscribers are described as people who have clicked an email

within a year or opened an email within 6 months. This metric will allow us to track the health of each list over time.

o The combined lists saw a net gain of 8,135 subscribers for Q1 of 2017/18. o Individually, all three lists saw double digit growth for the first quarter of the

year. The general list’s number of new sign ups was up 19% for the quarter.

The new site does a better job of promoting the newsletter sign up form, which should help boost numbers.

Signups for the outdoor list grew by 56% in Q1. This is a strong performance considering we weren’t actively pushing this list during the quarter.

Signups for the culinary list increased by 213% during Q1. This list saw strong results due to the leads from Feast and the Wines Fly Free sweepstakes.

• Engagement: o Engagement rates across all three lists showed primarily positive results.

Open rates for all three lists showed growth for the quarter with the outdoor list leading the way with a 40% bump over last year.

Click through rates for the general and outdoor lists were down for the quarter at -15% for general and -30% for outdoor. However, the culinary list grew by 11% for the quarter compared to last year.

• Email Optimization: o With the Visitor Lifecycle Management (VLM) project coming down the pike,

the team has shifted focus away from optimizing the legacy email program. The team is aiming its attention at preparing our lists for a migration to a new platform. While this shift is still a few months out, a lot of upfront work is required to clean the database. The Canadian anti-spam legislation (CASL) project was just one step in the preparation process.

o To help keep leads flowing consistently, the marketing team is planning on four lead-generating sweepstakes over the 2017-18 fiscal. The current sweepstakes is the winter ski & surf sweeps.

PUBLISHING & CONTENT We oversaw the development, production and distribution of 55 stories on TravelOregon.com in Q1. The publishing lineup included:

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 14

• 10 feature stories: This includes long lead “Summer Features” and other long-form

content designed to evoke an emotional response and ignite a desire to travel to Oregon.

• 20 news stories: These stories are informational in nature and are designed to keep Oregon “top-of-mind” with information about events and happenings within three months.

• 17 blogger stories: Stories from local Oregon personalities and content partners in their own voice.

• 12 special project stories: Stories produced to support special partner request and/or specific partner events including nine sponsored stories.

The summer edition of Seasonal Features was published in May and included deep-dive stories on Oregon’s Jewish pioneers, secrets of ghost towns, delicacies along I-5 and a guide to hiking in Cascade Head.

CONSUMER COMMUNICATIONS Earned Media

In July, August and September, Travel Oregon started the 17-18 fiscal year above our goal in both consumer- and industry-influenced coverage. On the consumer side, we influenced 53 stories with an average story score of 8.4 (8 is the goal) with a total circulation of 338.2 million. We can attribute this strong number to robust media outreach around the Total Solar Eclipse, highlighting the bicycle product in Oregon and strong culinary coverage through our Pre-Feast media tours. In August, the number of eclipse stories increased as the Solar Eclipse event drew near. First, an article/round up on Sunset.com that covered the best places in the country to view the eclipse includes the Coast, Salem and Madras. Next, a story on NewsTribune.com posted a story, “If you plan to drive to Oregon to see the eclipse, here’s your survival guide,” about pointers for ‘surviving’ what was expected to be a record influx of people into the state.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 15

Another eclipse roundup appeared on Vogue.com (“5 Destinations Where You Can See the Total Solar Eclipse”) included Central Oregon. The official launch of the Oregon Timber Trail and release of the trail guide garnered strong coverage results:

• CXMagazine.com, “Oregon Timber Trail Is Ready For Bikepackers From Illinois Farmers To Boston Bankers.”

• WWeek.com, “You Can Now Mountain Bike from Washington to California on Oregon’s Largest Bike Trail.”

• UnofficialNetworks.com, “Oregon’s 668 Mile ‘Timber Trail’ Opens To Mountain Bikers.”

• BikePortland.org, “The Oregon Timber Trail is ready: Are you?” • AdventureJournal.com, “Bikepacking in North America Just Got a Whole Lot

Radder.” Scenic Bikeways and the Oregon Timber Trail continued to catch the media’s attention, with stories on TravelChannel.com (“10 Great Bikepacking Routes in the U.S.”), PDXMonthly.com (“These 7 Oregon Scenic Bikeways Are Made for Fall Cycling”) and GrindTV.com (“Looking to dive into a bike tour? Here are 4 amazing options”). Additional coverage included an article on GrindTV.com about all of the adventures that await in the Hood River area (“Why Hood River might be one of the best adventure areas in the US”). There was a round up on SouthernLiving.com by Perri Blumberg (a journalist Travel Oregon met on the NY Media Tour), “The Great American Barbeque Bucket List,” that included Strorrs Smokehouse in Newberg on its list of best BBQ spots in each state. Additionally, the PR team sent a pitch to TravelChannel.com, which then featured Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor on its round up of “50 State of Adventurous State Parks.” Travel Oregon helped freelancer, Helen Anders, develop an itinerary for her two-week road trip through Oregon, which she detailed in her story on MyStatesman.com. TheDailyMeal.com ran a story by Jenny Block (who Travel Oregon hosted on a pre-FEAST tour) about The Suttle Lake Lodge and Boathouse with an interview with Joshua McFadden. This story was also picked up by LATimes.com. Travel to the Gorge was discussed in “Too much love for the Columbia River Gorge,” an article about the pros and cons of increased tourism to sites like Multnomah Falls. Linea Gagliano is interviewed—discussing the economic impact of travel and tourism, as well as the Ready, Set, Gorge! Initiative. Jacob Fu (LocalAdventurer.com) produced three posts about his hosted trip to Eastern Oregon and the Oregon Coast: “Amazing Things To Do At John Day Fossil Beds National

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 16

Monument”, “The Painted Hills John Day Fossil Beds National Monument {Photo Diary}”), “Guide to Thor’s Well Cape Perpetua Scenic Area Oregon Coast,” and “9 Reasons Why Oregon Is The Iceland Of America.” . In August, several stories were produced by media Travel Oregon has hosted: HuffingtonPost.com, “On This Oregon Trail, A New Discovery Around Every Bend” (the PR team helped secure a stay for the writer and his family at Tetherow and provided itinerary suggestions for his Oregon road trip).

• USAToday.com, “Oregon's country-to-coast tasting trail” (Travel Oregon fully hosted Lauren Mowery’s trip).

• ExtraCrispy.com, “The Breakfast of Your Dreams Is Hiding in an Oregon Lighthouse” and “Everything Is Better with This Black Garlic Salt” (Travel Oregon fully hosted Natalie Compton’s trip).

• LATimes.com, “Join the bull ropers and steer wrestlers on a weekend escape to Pendleton, Ore.” (Travel Oregon hosted portions of Jay Jones’ trip, and provided itinerary support).

• LocalAdventurer.com, “The Ultimate Eastern Oregon Road Trip” and “Your Essential Guide to Alvord Desert Oregon” (more posts from prolific travel bloggers, Jacob Fu and Esther Julee, who Travel Oregon hosted on an Eastern Oregon adventure in June).

In September, we began the month with two stories on HuffingtonPost.com. The first, “Discovering The Secrets Of Oregon’s Coast With The Kids,” was the result of a press trip that the PR team helped support. The second, “Two Lesbian Moms Raising A Boy…And A Food Festival,” was the first of our Feast 2017 coverage—written by Jenny Block, who Travel Oregon has established a great relationship with over years of pre-Feast media tours. Jaime Eder was interviewed by a writer at The Columbian and quoted in an article detailing day trips from Vancouver, Washington, including the Coast, Hood River and the Willamette Valley. Travel Oregon hosted Noah Lederman on a trip that covered the Coast, Portland and the Gorge. His first story, “Behind the Label: Beer Art” for Daily.SevenFifty.com included two Portland breweries he visited on his trip. Jamie Hale of The Oregonian used TravelOregon.com as inspiration to produce his article “Oregon’s 54 covered bridges: A road map to see them all.” Travel Oregon’s website is linked in the article. CountryLiving.com ran an all-Oregon roundup of “The 19 Best Small Towns in Oregon.” Another roundup (on USAToday.com) of 50 iconic dishes from 50 states, featured marionberry pie from Oregon—with a photo provided by Travel Oregon.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 17

At the beginning of September, Travel Oregon hosted blogger Victoria Yore on a press trip along the South Coast and into Southern Oregon and then Lane County—her first story, “5 Things To Know About Covered Bridges In Oregon” was posted shortly after. Bjoern Rosen of Der Tagesspiegel Media Trip to Umpqua Valley This past October, Travel Oregon’s Global Sales and Destination Development teams partnered on a media tour for Bjoern Rosen of Der Tagesspiegel, a Berlin-based publication with over 100,000 local readers. Bjoern was interested in writing a story about hiking in the Umpqua National Forest and Travel Oregon worked with the Umpqua Valley tourism studio steering committee to design an itinerary that met Bjoern’s needs for the story. The final itinerary included key findings from the Umpqua Valley Tourism Studio workshops that occurred during spring of 2017 and provides a strong example for a replicable outdoor recreation/agritourism trip to the Umpqua Valley for an international visitor. The itinerary showcased the following Oregon assets and attractions in the Umpqua Valley:

• Lighthouse Center Bakery and Cafe • Reustle Prayer Rock Winery • The Parrot House • Steamboat Inn • The Pacific Crest Trail • The Windigo Pass Trail • The North Umpqua Trail • Source One Serenity

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 18

Drive business from key global markets through integrated sales/marketing plans leveraged with global partners and

domestic travel trade

TRADESHOWS AND SALES MISSIONS

Canadian Chinese Sales Mission: British Columbia, Canada, October 4 - 5 Travel Oregon conducted sales calls in Richmond, B.C. The trip included meetings with trade partners in the Chinese Canadian market, conducting an Oregon sales training with the staff at Silkway Travel, and meeting with the President of the Canadian Inbound Tourism Association Asia Pacific. Oceana Sales Mission: Australia and New Zealand, October 5 –14 Travel Oregon in partnership with Travel Portland, Jupiter Hotel, America’s Hub World Tours, Elizabeth Inn & Suites and Mt. Hood Territory completed a sales mission in multiple cities across Australia and New Zealand, which included B2B appointments and trade and media events. The two-week mission focused on Oregon makers, which included offerings such as craft beer, donuts, kombucha, Danner Boots, spirits and much more. The six-person delegation is already seeing the results; media and trade publications are promoting peaked interest in Oregon’s unique offerings. The state has seen a 55% increase in visitation from Australia and New Zealand since 2006. Governor’s Mission to Asia: Japan, October 10 -15 Commissioner Sugahara and Travel Oregon staff accompanied a delegation of Oregonians representing industry sectors with interest in exporting goods and services to Japan during Governor Brown’s Mission to Asia. Governor Brown hosted a press conference in Tokyo welcoming visitors from Japan to Oregon and highlighting the importance of Japanese tourism to our state. Travel Oregon met with key media and travel industry clients in Japan selling and marketing Oregon’s tourism assets to these important customers. Japan is currently Oregon’s largest inbound overseas market. French Sales Mission: France, October 27 – November 5 Travel Oregon with tourism partners-Travel Portland and the Portland Region participated in a Sales Mission to France this fall. Starting in Nice with Olivier Barthez, in country

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 19

contractor, sales calls and agent trainings took place in nine different offices. The focus was to maintain existing itineraries in the fly-drive market, aid in developing new product for FIT and leisure travel, and to meet with new clients to develop Oregon itineraries. Paris was the second city on the mission in which nine offices were visited. Training sales agents and working with product managers to help gain more knowledge about Oregon, developing new itineraries, and sharing what’s new in the state was the focus of the meetings. World Travel Market: London, November 6 – 8 Travel Oregon attended World Travel Market (WTM) in London with partners from Travel Portland, the Portland Region, and Newport Chamber of Commerce. During the show 60 confirmed appointments and approximately 50 drop-in appointments with travel trade, airline, and media representatives were covered. Meetings with Brand USA, Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, and some of our UK top producing tour operators were highlights of the show. German Sales Mission: Germany, November 12 – 18 In Frankfurt, Nuremberg, and Stuttgart, Travel Oregon, Delta Air Lines, Travel Portland, Eugene, Cascades and Coast, the Portland Region and Newport Chamber of Commerce conducted round table presentations and trainings on Oregon itineraries and product, in which over 200 agents participated. The delegation also met with German offices of Condor and IcelandAir. Travel Alliance Partners Board Meeting: Portland, Oregon, November 28 – December 1 The TAP (Travel Alliance Partners) Board will hold their annual General Meeting in Portland in December. Travel Oregon will host their buyers at a networking evening at Portland’s DIY Bar and assist in supporting the post fam trip in partnership with Travel Portland. Travel Alliance Partners® was officially established in 2001 and is a member-owned organization of premier tour operators in the United States and Canada. Members purchase products in a profitable fashion, pass the savings on to the consumers and increase market share with key suppliers. China Sales Mission: Beijing & Shanghai, December 3 – 10 Travel Oregon will lead a mission to China with partners from Washington County Visitors’ Association. This sales mission will provide extensive one-on-one networking with China based travel trade buyers and media interested in developing new travel products and content featuring Oregon. National Tour Association Travel Exchange: San Antonio, Texas, December 13 - 19 Travel Oregon and 21 Oregon DMO’s and suppliers will head to San Antonio, Texas for the National Tour Association’s (NTA) annual Travel Exchange. Travel Oregon and Travel Portland are partnering as Gold Level Sponsors, which includes a 10x20 booth on the convention floor, where Oregon premium ice-cream will be served. Partners will also be represented with a full-page ad on the back cover of the convention map & schedule. Team

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 20

Oregon will host an annual tour operator dinner Sunday, December 17 at High Street Wine Company. TRADE FAMS American Unlimited: Germany, September 27 - 30 America Unlimited is a family-owned tour operator based in Hannover, Germany. They specialize in travel to North America with special focus on individually tailored trips to the US. The experienced sales and marketing team’s emphasis is on social media (over 65,000 fans on Facebook and 8900 followers on Instagram), creative online and offline campaigns, e-newsletter distribution to 130,000 contacts as well as innovative marketing strategies. They offer an annual catalogue but 70% of the company’s business is generated through their website. More than 85% of the company’s business is based on FIT. They offer numerous Oregon-only fly drive tours as well as fly drives through Oregon in combination with other neighboring states. America Unlimited visited the North Coast, Willamette Valley wine country, and Portland during their time in Oregon. North America Travel Service: United Kingdom, September 29 - October 6 North America Travel Service (NATS) offer the very best in tailor made vacations and belong to Inspirational Globe, an alliance of seven exceptional travel companies. Each one is a privately owned, independent tour operator specializing in just one area of the world. All share the same high standards of personal service and a profound knowledge of their individual destinations. NATS are headquartered in Leeds and have 6 additional retail branches throughout the UK and sell both direct to the consumer as well as through the retail trade. They have one of the most comprehensive programs to Oregon in the UK market. Two NATS staff and four retail agents were on the fam and they experienced, Portland, Newport, Florence, Grants Pass, Sunriver, Mount Hood, and the Columbia River Gorge. Korean Travel Trade Fam: Korea, November 13 – 16 Travel Oregon in partnership with the Brand USA Korea Team and Korean Air, hosted a product development and familiarization trip for 15 travel trade buyers from South Korea including key staff from leading tour operators including Hana Tour and Lotte Tour as well as representatives from Korean Air. The product development tour featured shoulder season experiences on Oregon’s North Coast, in the Willamette Valley and the Portland region. FTI: Germany, November 28 -December 3 FTI Group is the fourth largest German tour operator, has more than 11,000 certified agents, offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France and over 2.1 billion in revenue a year. FTI Touristik offers 20 brochures with a worldwide product portfolio. They have a special USA brochure with a very strong and extensive USA portfolio, offering multiple Oregon Fly-Drive itineraries and extensive product. They will experience Portland, Eugene and Newport during their stay in Oregon.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 21

MEDIA FAMS Western Living Magazine: Canada, October 27 – 30 Journalist, Julia Dilworth, visited Oregon on assignment for Vancouver Magazine. The publication focuses on travel, food, home and shopping and has a circulation of 50,000. The article will be 3 pages with images. Her interests include breweries, distilleries, great food and sightseeing. Australian Freelance Journalist: Australia, December 7 – 13 Helen Hayes, Editor in Chief of Vacations and Travel Magazine will visit Oregon for the first time in December 2017. Helen will also be writing for the Ski and Snowboard with Kids issue of Holidays with Kids Magazine. Vacations & Travel Magazine is Australia’s highest circulated travel magazine (40,000 copies per quarterly issue with 160,000 in readership). Holidays with Kids is the leading family travel magazine both in reputation and readership. They are Australia’s highest circulating family travel title, reaching an audience of over 600,000 across print and digital channels. It is officially the largest circulating travel magazine in Australia that goes to both consumers and travel agents. NEW PRODUCT October 2017, China C tour, the small group tour division of China’s largest OTA, C trip, has developed a 52-week series tour product for 2018. This series program includes an overnight with Medford’s Inn at the Commons. This is one of three new Pacific Northwest tour programs this company has created all of which include Oregon.

MEDIA EXPOSURE October 2017, Japan Travel Oregon facilitated a tourism focused press briefing during Governor Brown’s recent trade mission to Asia. Governor Brown and Todd Davidson addressed 41 Japanese media during this briefing. Results thus far include five different media exposures released via Asahi Shimbun (close approximation to New York Times in Japan) Huffington Post Japan, Travel Watch, Yahoo News and Wing Travel. There are four additional exposures expected during November and December, and the number of estimated impressions via all media outlets is 3,169,737 with a total ad value of $221,504US.

Travel Oregon Sales Manager, Greg Ekhart, Commissioner Sugahara, Governor Kate Brown and Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson at the press briefing in Japan

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 22

November 2017, Japan Travel Oregon in partnership with Delta Air Lines Japan, hosted National broadcaster Fuji TV during a recent production of their Saturday morning travelogue program Nijiro Jean Bon Appetit Feast Around the World. The 15-minute Oregon segment is valued at $300,000 USD and will reach 7-8 million high-value Japanese consumers interested in overseas travel. Fuji Television is famous for producing the 1980’s television sensation, “From Oregon With Love” as well as the world-wide phenomenon, “Iron Chef”. SPECIAL PROMOTIONS Aeroméxico Inaugural Flight: December 6-10 Travel Oregon received an official announcement that Aeroméxico will fly out of Portland International Airport, making daily non-stop service to Mexico City available through a partnership with Delta Air Lines. The service begins December 1 and Travel Oregon will be working in partnership with partners at the Port of Portland and Travel Portland to assist in hosting the inaugural events December 7-10 in Portland.

Facilitate the development of world-class tourism product in partnership with community leaders, tourism businesses

and key agencies OUTDOOR RECREATION DEVELOPMENT Oregon Outdoor Recreation Initiative (OORI): Phase One Report Phase One of the OORI is now complete as the Phase One Summary Report was released at the Governor’s Office of Outdoor Recreation signing ceremony in Bend; read her remarks on Oregon.gov. OORI Phase Two: Action Team Development The OORI moves into Phase Two of its development by launching six action teams, representing six of the top ten priority two to three-year strategies identified by the Leadership Team and affirmed through public input. Action Teams and their focuses are as follows:

• Network Development - includes the development of a statewide network model as well as regional networks; Three-Pin Consulting is supporting this team.

• Office of Outdoor Recreation - Oregon Parks and Recreation has released the job announcement, find more information at governmentjobs.com

• Communications - developing communication framing for sustainable outdoor recreation travel. Travel Oregon, with leadership of Linea Gagliano, is engaging Maxwell PR in this process.

• Signature Trails - see information on the recent Oregon Trails Summit below • Transportation - seeking to provide mutli-modal transportation access to high-

impact outdoor recreation areas; ODOT’s Kristen Stallman is leading this team.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 23

• Economic Impact - developing a statewide economic impact study of outdoor recreation; both Michael Sturdevant and Ladan Ghahramani of Travel Oregon are engaged on this team.

CULINARY & AGRITOURISM DEVELOPMENT Oregon Agritourism Network (OAN) Leaders of the Oregon Agritourism Network (OAN) leaders met at Travel Oregon to discuss the sustainability of the network, its leadership and direction, and short-term action plan. The team agreed that the OAN will host three network meetings throughout in 2017-18 to share best practices, resources, and opportunities to grow the industry. The next meeting will occur on Friday, December 8, 2017 at the Sunshine Mill Winery Silos in The Dalles. You can register online.

Guide tourism in a way that achieves the optimal balance of visitation, economic impact, natural resources conservation

and livability TRAVEL OREGON FOREVER Travel Oregon Forever Fund The call for proposals for the 2018-2019 Travel Oregon Forever Fund projects closed on November 10, 2017. Travel Oregon identified shortlisted projects based on their adherence to the program guidelines and invited the Forever Fund Business Partners, the Sustainable Tourism Advisory Committee, and Travel Oregon staff to vote on their preferred projects. A final list of seven projects will be confirmed and approved by Forever Fund manager, the Oregon Community Foundation, by January 1, 2018. You can review a list of previous Forever Fund projects on Travel Oregon’s Industry Website.

Inspire overnight leisure travel through industry-leading

branding, marketing and communications PUBLISHING & CONTENT Mountain Bike Video Travel Oregon partnered with VanWeelden Creative to produce a video titled My Favorite Mountain Bike Ride. The video uses iconic imagery and inspiring narrative to highlight mountain biking experiences in Bend, Hood River and Oakridge that are suitable for beginner all the way to expert riders. Key assets and attractions in each mountain biking destination are included to provide viewers with a complete picture of the available visitor experiences. Watch the video online.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 24

Coast to Table Artisans and Producers: Tillamook Coast Oregon Travel Oregon partnered with Visit Tillamook Coast to deliver a Culinary and Agritourism Studio in Tillamook County in February 2017. An outcome of this program was a roadmap of activities to implement that will advance new food-related tourism opportunities for the region. A new video titled Coast to Table Artisans and Producers: Tillamook Coast Oregon was included in the roadmap that highlights the growing bounty of its region and the faces that bring it to the table. This video showcases local businesses like Jacobsen Salt, Nevor Shellfish, de Garde Brewing, Frog Eyes Wasabi farm, Wilsonview Dairy and also includes stories from Jeff Wong of Consumer Supported Fishery and Hayden Bush of TBCC Agriculture and Natural Resource program. Watch the video online.

SUPPORT AND EMPOWER OREGON’S TOURISM INDUSTRY

Provide development and training opportunities to meet the

evolving tourism industry needs

Travel Oregon 101 In October, Travel Oregon 101 seminars were presented at the Oregon Main Street Conference in Oregon City and the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association Convention in Bend. A 101 webinar was held in early November for the Eastern Oregon region. The final seminar for 2017 will be in Sandy prior to the Oregon Tourism Commission meeting at Timberline. The team is finalizing the seminar schedule for the first six months of 2018 and will announce dates and locations in the December Industry e-Newsletter and on the industry website. Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism Conference workshop topics and speakers are currently being finalized, with attendee registration on target to open mid-January 2018. The lodging room block at the headquarter hotel, Riverhouse on the Deschutes, will open in conjunction with registration going live. Attendees will be able to reserve their rooms at that time.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 25

Partnership sales for the 2018 conference sponsors and exhibitors opened early October. The partnership opportunities guide, that outlines available conference sponsorships and exhibit options, can be downloaded from the conference website: OregonTourismConference.com. New this year, partners can sponsor the attendee charging station lounges or the conference registration center, allowing for expanded exposure in some of the most frequently visited areas of the conference. Nominations for this year’s Travel & Tourism Industry Achievement Awards are open through February 28, 2018. Nominations are submitted through the industry website. OREGON TOURISM STUDIOS Klamath Basin Rural Tourism Studio The Visioning and Planning workshops were delivered in the Klamath Basin in October. FutureIQ and Travel Oregon staff facilitated two sessions in Malin, Oregon where participants reflected on how local decisions can impact and change the direction of their region. Roughly 45 community leaders participated in a scenario planning exercise and discussed how four potential scenarios represent their current status, their ideal status, and their future status. With this input, a 15-year vision was drafted to support sustainable, intentional growth and livability. The Klamath Basin Steering Committee has selected to have two product development workshop sessions: Cultural Heritage and Agritourism; and Outdoor Recreation and Adventure Travel. Judy Walden of Walden Mills Group will facilitate the first session and Travel Oregon’s Scott Bricker will facilitate the second. A variety of local and regional speakers will be invited to share insights and lessons related to their own tourism businesses and projects. Klamath Basin Tourism Studio Marketing Roadmap Travel Oregon is committed to supporting the Klamath Basin region to advance its priorities following the completion of the final tourism studio workshop. As part of this support Travel Oregon will be piloting a tourism studio marketing roadmap for the region. The purpose of

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 26

the roadmap is to ensure that the region is well promoted on TravelOregon.com so that it is better included into organizational campaigns and other related opportunities. Through the roadmap, the Klamath Basin will receive:

• A robust sub-regional page and connected city pages on TravelOregon.com • Up to three trip ideas on TravelOregon.com that highlight the priorities discussed

during the tourism studio workshops • A two-day shoot with a professional photographer who will be on-site to capture

web-ready images of signature assets in the region

Follow-Up with Past Communities Destination Development is increasing the amount of time and resources designated to support communities with follow-up services to actualize the strategies developed during tourism studio and product development programs. We have focused our work on supporting tourism studio steering committees to surface key technical assistance and resource needs that supports action and product development toward their 15-year visions. These priority areas include growing capacity, funding projects through grant writing, designing regional tourism networks, developing strategies, and supporting project implementation. Travel Oregon has connected tourism studio communities to a grant writer who offers technical assistance and expertise to improve the grants applications. We’ve brought in experts on project strategy, implementation, and network design that work with communities to leverage resources and grow their impact as rural destinations. Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) Placements We have also worked to expand the partnership with the RARE program to bring high-functioning RARE Placements to six new communities. Travel Oregon’s role includes supporting the development of RARE applications, training and coaching RARE Placements and co-funding the actual placement. OUTDOOR RECREATION DEVELOPMENT Oregon Outdoor Summit On October 16-17 Travel Oregon partnered with Oregon State University and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to host the Oregon Outdoor Summit. The summit engaged a cross-section of Oregon’s leaders to learn and advance outdoor recreation. Travel Oregon facilitated the majority of the Summit’s second day, which included:

• Running an open-space input session for the six Oregon Outdoor Recreation Initiative action teams

• Facilitating roundtable discussions to strategize for the possibility of developing regional outdoor recreation networks

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 27

Oregon Trails Summit On October 27 Trailkeepers of Oregon hosted a sold-out (220 attendees) trails summit that aimed to provide information and networking for a diverse set of trail enthusiasts. The goal of the gathering was to build momentum toward a statewide trails association that would represent interests of all trails users including hikers, bikers, equestrians, OHV users, skiers, water sport users, and more. Travel Oregon sponsored the event and the work of consultant Stephanie Noll to lead this effort as it parlays directly into the Signature Trails action team and our knowledge that trails are a critical element of the infrastructure needed to access Oregon’s great outdoors. Roadmap to the Outdoors Symposium - February 15, 2018 First Gentleman, Dan Little is leading an effort to increase connections to the outdoors for more Oregonians. This day-long event will help chart a roadmap to the outdoors and identify non-traditional outdoor enthusiasts, determine barriers and develop solutions to expand access to more Oregonians. Save the Date! BICYCLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Industry Scholarships to attend the 2017 National Bicycle Tourism Conference and 2017 SHIFT Festival In October, Travel Oregon awarded $2,500 to Oregonians to attend the 2017 National Bicycle Tourism Conference in St. Pete Beach, FL and the 2017 SHIFT Festival in Jackson Hole, WY. Award recipients and their organizations are listed below. We are excited to see how these leaders of Oregon outdoor recreation will leverage their experiences to advance projects across the state.

• Chelsea Judy, Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort • Daniel Sizer, Go Wild: American Adventures, LLC • Heidi Beierle, Enroute Transport • Jessica Bogardus, Lake County Chamber of Commerce • Kevin Prentice, Ride with GPS

2018 Oregon Active Transportation Summit and 2018 Oregon Bicycle Tourism Summit The 2018 Oregon Active Transportation Summit and the 2018 Oregon Bicycle Tourism Summit will return to the Oregon Zoo in Portland in March. The Oregon Active Transportation will be hosted on March 15-16 and the Oregon Bicycle Tourism Summit will occur on March 16. Registration for both summits will become available in December 2017 on the Street Trust website.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 28

Implement industry leading visitor information network

WELCOME CENTERS Visitor Center Walk-in Counts The total visitor walk-in count for the month of July 2017, across all Welcome Centers increased by 15% over July 2016 (34,889 vs. 30,409) and 65% over August 2016 (46,632 vs. 28,190). The major factors contributing to the August 2017 increase were the eclipse and the higher visitor traffic counts of our new Boardman Welcome Center (at the SAGE Center) over the 2016 counts of our former Umatilla welcome center. While our welcome center at PDX reported the highest visitor count for August, the Klamath Falls welcome center posted the largest monthly increase for August 2017 over 2016 amongst all the centers: 91% (4,646 vs. 2,426).

Fully realize statewide, strategic integration of OTIS

(Oregon Tourism Information System)

Oregon Tourism Information System (OTIS) Since OTIS was launched six weeks ago, we have been busy hosting trainings for existing partners and potential new partners. This includes two sessions in October for users who were transitioning from Orb, along with training for Rural Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE )1 participants in November.

Visit McMinnville will be our first new OTIS client. The agency is currently relaunching their consumer site at VisitMcMinnville.com and will be fully integrating with OTIS.

Deploy tourism programs (e.g. RCTP, Competitive Grants) in a powerful way that fulfills unique opportunities and

challenges as defined by the tourism industry Regional Cooperative Tourism Program The Regional Cooperative Tourism Team is overseeing bi-monthly check-in meetings with the Regional Destination Management Organizations on 17-19 RCTP plans. The RCTP Team supported RDMO’s presentations on finalized plans to stakeholders in October and November. The intent of the gatherings was to:

1 Rural Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) is as an AmeriCorps program administered by Oregon State University.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 29

• Report back to stakeholders on the process and implementation of the 17-19 Regional Cooperative Tourism Plans and how stakeholder input was utilized.

• Engage stakeholders to identify opportunities within the RDMOs 17-19 Plan to leverage and participate in collaborative work with regional partners.

• Strengthen and revisit regional vision for tourism in the region. • Establish participation among tourism stakeholders.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 30

Regional Updates:

For comprehensive RCTP plan updates, including: thorough description of regional tactics, goals, and progress toward completion, please consult the RCTP dashboard (global and regional) which can be found on Travel Oregon’s industry website: http://industry.traveloregon.com/RCTP. The following updates are key highlights gleaned from some of the Regional Partners during the RCTP team’s in-region consultations.

Central Oregon Region – Central Oregon Visitors Association has hired Mackenzie Wilson as their new marketing manager. Mackenzie specializes in videography, RCTP funds helped support COVA filling this much needed staff position to support the region.

Eastern Oregon Region- Eastern Oregon Visitors Association has hired Chris Chester as their Global Sales & Packaged Travel Consultant. At the regional consultation meeting, The EOVA Executive Director announced succession planning process for the ED position.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 31

Hood Gorge Region – The Hood Gorge Region has been severely affected by the Eagle Creek fires. In response to the fires, the region developed an innovative campaign with ReachNow, a Portland based ride sharing service, the campaign is philanthropic in nature and gives to a variety of causes and initiatives that were developed to deliver aid to Gorge communities. The campaign is called “Show the Gorge Some Love” more information can be found here: http://www.hood-gorge.com/show-the-gorge-some-love

Oregon Coast Region – The Oregon Coast Visitors association has hired Katera Woodbridge for their “Sales and Marketing” position.

Portland Region – The “Greater Portland Region” underwent a name change. The region is now known as the Portland Region. This change was made to make the region more appealing to international visitors.

Southern Oregon Region – Travel Southern Oregon completed a re-brand and updated their consumer webpage. You can view the new site at: https://www.southernoregon.org/

Willamette Valley Region - Willamette Valley Visitors Association has hired Tori Middlestadt as their Sales and Development Manager.

Competitive Large Grants Update A total of 15 Competitive Large Grant applications were submitted on November 13, 2017 for a combined request of $14,171,992. The total project cost combined is $146,707,105. Large grant applications are for grants greater than $100,000 and must demonstrate at least a 50 percent cash match. Large grant awards are intended to create statewide impacts or impact multiple regions. Eligible projects must provide for the improvement or expansion of the tourism economy in Oregon by showcasing the state on a national or global stage or is a world-class asset. The Commission has designated $2.5 million from the current fiscal year and an additional $2.5 million over the course of the 2017-2019 biennium to initially fund this program.

CHAMPION THE VALUE OF TOURISM

Grow and align strategic partnerships to leverage resources and capacity to address key issues

GLOBAL STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS Partnership Development GSP is in the process of identifying, inventorying, evaluating and expanding partnerships with public, non-profit and private sector organizations. A Partnership Development position is currently being scoped to help achieve the goals of GSP and further the growth of partnerships across Travel Oregon teams.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 32

Other partnership updates include:

• Brand USA microsite project is in progress with all 7 Regions participating in content development and a February 2018 launch date is planned. This project will translate Oregon state content into 6 languages to target 14 countries.

• Partnership planning meetings with the Oregon Wine Board, Oregon Film, Oregon Sports Authority, Delta Airlines and ORLA Leadership have been held and opportunities to leverage and align have been identified for implementation this fiscal year.

• ORLA Education Foundation and Travel Oregon are partnering to provide world-class customer service to Oregon visitors through the Guest Service Gold program. Wendy Popkin, ORLA Education Foundation Director is lead on the partnership and will facilitate trainings working with RDMO and Travel Oregon staff.

Empower and equip Oregon’s tourism industry with power

of travel and issue-oriented messages

INDUSTRY COMMUNICATIONS

Earned Media

The first quarter of FY 2017-18 saw incredible results for industry messaging, with the eclipse efforts leading the way on story topics. For July, August and September, the Communications team influenced 113 articles with a circulation of 314.7 million and an average story score of 8.4. In the chart above, you see the scores were lower for September. This is due to four radio interviews that don’t have critical scoring criteria, such as including a photo and a call to action. We will address this and create new scoring criteria for radio. The solar eclipse was covered in several stories, most of which were focused on safety tips and travel. Later articles highlighted the successful efforts of state and federal industry partners in minimizing negative effects from the major influx of eclipse enthusiasts.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 33

On August 15, Travel Oregon hosted a joint press conference with Governor Brown’s office and other state agencies. The press conference was covered by most local news outlets, including KOIN, KGW, KTVZ, OregonLive, OPB, KATU, KVAL and Bend Bulletin among others. Travel Oregon partnered with Discover South Carolina on an eclipse #Coast2Coast Instagram challenge. A press release was sent over the wire specifying details for participants, and was later picked up by several outlets including BroadwayWorld.com, BizJournals.com and KTVZ.com. As the eclipse drew near, the bulk of the coverage was related to any traffic issues that had ensued. Although, except for Symbiosis in Prineville, pre-eclipse traffic was minimal. Additionally, Linea Gagliano was interviewed for a Your Voice, Your Vote segment on KATU discussing the positive economic impacts and huge opportunity the eclipse presents for Oregon. Post-eclipse coverage mainly focused on how successful the event was considering the minimal traffic, and other “worst-case scenarios” that never materialized:

• Oregonlive.com, “Oregon shines after eclipse” • USAToday.com, “Eclipse-viewing party in the air; special airline flight had a sky-high

look” • RegisterGuard.com, “Most places in Oregon, huge eclipse crowds did not materialize

- making for a relaxed viewing atmosphere” • SFChronicle.com, “Oregon officials say no mayhem or big eclipse problems” • OPB.org, “Eclipse Chasers Leave Little Damage Behind On Oregon's Wild Lands

A few more standouts of eclipse coverage are:

• EugeneWeekly.com, “Oregon Eclipse: 3 weeks away.” • USAToday.com, “Coast-to-coast ka-ching! Eclipse tourism bringing in millions from

Oregon to S.C." • Curbed.com, “Solar eclipse 2017 and the tourism boom in its path.” • MyNorthwest.com, “Pacific Northwest towns prepping for major traffic snarls

during eclipse.” • Linea Gagliano was interviewed on First Edition (KPAM). • Slate.com, “Eclipse Chasers Are Descending on Oregon” (Linea Gagliano is quoted) • TheNewsGuard.com, “AUGUST SHADOW: ODOT, city plan for heavy traffic,”

mentions Travel Oregon as an agency that is helping the state prepare. • EastOregonian.com, “Where to watch the total solar eclipse in Eastern Oregon,”

provides travel information and the best viewing locations in the region. • KGW.com, “5 things you might not know about the eclipse,” a list of perhaps lesser

known eclipse information that includes a mention of eclipse glasses and links to Travel Oregon as a resource for glasses and eclipse guides.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 34

• Bloomberg.com, “A Tiny Oregon Town is Prepping to Be Ground Zero for Eclipse Tourism,” focuses on the crowds expected to descend on Madras, and what the town is doing to prepare.

• GeekWire.com, “Oregon’s prime solar eclipse zone braces for the agony and the ecstasy of totality,” looks at how Madras is bracing for the eclipse—also mentions various eclipse events around the state.

Unfortunately, just weeks after a largely successful and incident-free eclipse, smoke and hazardous conditions from the Chetco Bar (and other Oregon wildfires) prompted Cycle Oregon to cancel its ride for the first time in 30 years. Linea Gagliano was interviewed by KOIN about the impacts of this on state tourism. A large portion of September’s coverage was related to the devastating wildfires that raged through Oregon during the end of the summer:

• Early in the month, Jefferson Public Radio interviewed Linea about cancellations of Cycle Oregon and OSF performances (due to smoke/fire danger) taking a toll on Southern Oregon’s economy during peak tourism season.

• Columbian.com posted an article expressing worries around tourism to the Columbia River Gorge due to the Eagle Creek fire.

• Later in the month, in the wake of the Eagle Creek fire, US News & World Report ran an article about the volume of visitors to Oregon’s outdoor attractions increasing as well as the need for education on way to protect said attractions. Ready, Set, GOrge! is discussed in the article.

• As the Chetco Bar fire continued to burn, once again, Linea Gagliano had an interview with Jefferson Public Radio about the implications on the tourist season and economic impact of wildfires.

• The Dalles Chronicle ran an editorial response to tourism in the Gorge following the Eagle Creek fire—the editorial included Travel Oregon’s industry statistic from Dean Runyan.

• Travel Oregon partnered with the Gorge to promote their “Show the Gorge Some Love” campaign. Following this, an article ran on MENAFN.com which also mentioned Ready, Set, GOrge!

In other industry news, the Bend Bulletin ran an online story about the state hoping to create an office for outdoor recreation; Kristin Dahl is quoted. Outdoor recreation—specifically the proven links between outdoor recreation and physical and mental well-being—was also the topic of an Op-ed written by Travel Oregon’s own Mo Sherifdeen (“Op-ed: Mo Sherifdeen of Travel Oregon on the DMO’s Role in Population Health”) on RootsRated.com. OregonBusiness.com interviewed Linea Gagliano for its article about the increase of travel and commerce despite the current administration/political climate. The article also includes some of Travel Oregon’s industry statistics.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 35

Following Todd Davidson’s and Linea Gagliano’s economic impact media tour last May, TheWorldLink.com ran three back-to-back stories about tourism and its positive impact: “Oregon travel industry creates jobs, boosts economy,” “Bandon Dunes assessment providing benefits” and “South Coast Strong: Agritourism a growing niche.” Cannabis tourism was explored in an article on StatesmanJournal.com, “Legal pot dealers find home: Oregon’s Cannabis Coast,” about the rise in cannabis-friendly business and attraction on the Oregon Coast. The article (which was also picked up on OPB.org) notes that questions remain as to whether or not cannabis is influencing tourists when trip planning. Lastly, leading up to Feast, Linea Gagliano was interviewed on KATU. The interview highlighted not only Feast, but also the economic impact of culinary tourism in Oregon.

Industry Press Releases The Travel Oregon Communications team works to research, write and distribute a variety of timely, relevant press releases in tandem with industry initiatives, seasonal campaigns and partnerships. The team sent out the following press releases in the first quarter of FY 2017-18 Aug. 1, 2017: Oregon Statewide Organizations Prepare For This Month's Total Solar Eclipse Aug. 10, 2017: Oregon Governor’s Office, Statewide Organizations to Host Solar Eclipse Press Conference Aug. 17, 2017: If you Ain’t First, You’re Last Sept. 21, 2017: Travel Oregon Awards $400,000 for Local Tourism Projects Industry Services support: Travel Oregon Trails to Tales Event On the night of November 1, the Industry Services team, in support of the Communications team, Viva! Events, the Jupiter Hotel, Doug Fir Lounge, and 39 other partners, successfully transformed the Jupiter’s property into a showcase of the state’s wide variety of bounty and experiences for the Society of American Travel Writer’s annual convention. Thanks to many of our partners, attendees “shopped” the swag bar of complimentary products from Pendleton Woolen Mill, Hydroflask, Harry & David, Stoller Family Estate, Barista, Heart in Oregon, Portland Soda Works and more. Chefs from around the state served elegant dishes highlighting their region’s bounty. Photo ops with the longhorns, Oregon Trail actors from Portland Center

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 36

Stage, Sasquatch from Mt. Hood Territory and the stunning aerialists from A-WOL (Aerialists Without Limits) were available. The event was a huge success and attendees left excited about Oregon!

RUN AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS

FINANCIALS 2017-18 FYTD

The Commission adopted plan and budget anticipates Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) income for FY 2017-18 of $36,790,000. TLT income fiscal year to date through October 31, 2017 is $9,719,077 or 26.4% of TLT budget. All sources, including beginning equity balance from prior period, beginning balance for Regional and Grants and other miscellaneous revenue is $20,173,830. Travel Oregon total actual expense for the same period, inclusive of future program obligations and reserves was $14,293,790 or 30% of budgeted expense.

2015-17 Financial Review Travel Oregon engaged Aldrich CPA’s + Advisors LLP to conduct the financial review of the prior biennium. The testing and initial review work by the firm is complete and we expect to have a report from Aldrich + Advisors by the end of January 2018. Every 2-years, following the close of the biennium, Travel Oregon engages a firm to perform a review or audit and submits this review to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office. The Commission will be provided with an update on the review and a copy of the report will be made available for Commission review once received by the Oregon Secretary of State.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 37

Prioritize the implementation of technology to make Travel Oregon more effective and efficient

RECORDS RETENTION, SECURITY, ACCESS Cloud Migration With the help of Travel Oregon’s managed IT Services partner, the agency has taken steps to ensure records are backed up, network access is secure and staff have reliable access to the files needed to deliver on plan of work. Migration of files to the cloud through use of Office 365 has just been completed and staff training and implementation of protocols to improve efficiencies are underway. Along with the improvements in security and access is the opportunity to reduce agency costs by utilizing the Office 365 suite of applications wherever possible to eliminate other subscription-based services. Work is underway to enhance internal alignment, communication and collaboration through the variety of tools available.

Attract, develop and retain top talent

STAFFING Travel Oregon Recruitment Travel Oregon recruitment process for positions included in the 2017-18 biennial budget is underway with a few positions in “active recruitment” status and others in the various stages of development and planned for the second half of the year. Included in the anticipated roles is a Public Affairs position budgeted but not filled in the last biennium, a Competitive Grants support position, an additional position within Global Strategic Partnerships and an Outdoor Recreation Specialist within Destination Development. We’re thrilled to welcome Matthew Finn as Coordinator for the Global Strategic Partnerships Team, Hilary Sager, Coordinator for the Destination Development Product Development Studio and Kayla Dunn, Destination Development Coordinator for the Community-Based Services Studio, Ladan Ghahramani, Global Marketing Research Manager and Christina Tuchman, Global Marketing Assistant.

Continuously review, improve and document policies and

processes/procedures

POLICY REVIEW Employee Handbook Travel Oregon's efforts for continuous improvement includes a thorough review of all policies and procedures. Over the course of this year we’ll be engaging our team in reviewing policies and procedures with an eye for improvements that support a positive, inclusive work environment, our Oregon sustainability ethic, developing a highly engaged, effective team and emphasizes responsible use of time and other resources we steward.

December 2017 Commission Meeting Timberline, OR

Pg. 38

Improve internal alignment amongst Travel Oregon departments

DEPARTMENTAL FOCUS New Destination Development Team Structure In an effort to sharpen departmental structure and respond more effectively to the growing demand for development assistance, the Destination Development Team of eight has restructured. As also modeled on the Global Marketing Team, Destination Development work is identified and clustered through various studios to respond to industry need. Three studios are established within the team:

1. Community-Based Services Studio - This studio deploys community-based (i.e. place-based) planning and capacity building programming, including the Oregon Tourism Studio program.

o Kristin Dahl, VP o Alexa Carey, Specialist o Kayla Dunn, Coordinator

2. Product Development Studio - This studio will develop and manage industry-wide product development initiatives that are responsive to community needs including outdoor recreation, bicycle tourism, agritourism and visitor transportation.

o Scott Bricker, Director o Specialist (new/vacant) o Hilary Sager, Coordinator

3. Destination Management Studio - This studio will develop and manage educational programming to better assist destinations and partners with tackling complex destination management issues including, but not limited to, workforce development, affordable housing, congestion, visitor transportation and giving back (philanthropy).

o Kristin Dahl, VP o Andrew Grossmann, Specialist

Each of these studios will engage in overlapping realms of work rather than operate as separate bodies, as the work within each is highly interdependent. Vice President, Kristin Dahl will continue to provide team leadership and management, and Jordan McCauley will continue as the team’s administrative assistant.