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Welcome to our Inaugural Destination Development Update!
Are you, your organization or community working to develop tourism? These updates will keep you informed of destination development trainings, workshops and conferences; project funding opportunities; award programs and inspiring success stories.
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Meet Our Newest Team Members Travel Oregon is excited to welcome two new members to its Destination Development team. Scott Bricker has recently been hired as Destination Development Manager at Travel Oregon. Scott will spearhead Travel Oregon’s bicycle tourism and active transportation development. He's a former non-profit Executive Director, leading America Walks for six years, as well as serving at the Bicycle Transportation Alliance for 11 years with roles that included Executive Director, Policy Director, and Education Director. Many of you may already be familiar with Scott, since he delivered 18 Bicycle Tourism Studios across the state and helped to develop the Bike Friendly Business Program. Andrew Grossmann has joined the team as Destination Development Coordinator and will manage Travel Oregon's business recognition programs and sustainable travel initiatives. He will also provide support for bike tourism initiatives and outgoing communications. Prior to joining the Travel Oregon team, Andrew served as a Program Director for International NGO Sustainable Travel International, where you may know him from his work in helping to implement the Travel Oregon Forever Fund.
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Regional Investment Program Travel Oregon, in partnership with David Beurle of Future iQ Partners, has been engaged in a series of meetings with Regional Destination Marketing Organizations (RDMOs) and travel and tourism industry stakeholders to develop an enhanced Regional Investment Program. Initial meetings took into consideration how the Regional Cooperative Marketing Program (RCMP) worked in the past and will help guide a more collaborative framework moving forward. A number of issues of statewide significance were raised that Travel Oregon and the RDMO network will focus on addressing as the program moves forward. These issues include: - Collaboration with federal land management agencies and transportation organizations on vision, strategy, and implementation
- Development of visitor wayfinding and signage across the state
- Transit and private shuttle system development to increase mobility and reduce congestion
- Education and training of frontline staff
- In-person trainings such as a statewide ‘We Speak’ model
- Ensure TRT taxes are being collected – particularly by vacation rentals
- Working more proactively and cooperatively to leverage Travel Oregon’s marketing programs
- Capacity to convene and manage projects
- Addressing the seasonality of tourism arrivals
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Register for the Statewide Tourism Gathering All participants of Travel Oregon’s destination development programming, including the Rural Tourism Studio; Culinary & Agritourism Studio; Bicycle Tourism Studio; or the Tour Operators, Guides and Outfitters Training are encouraged to attend the Oregon Tourism Studio Gathering, April 22-23 in Pendleton. Participants can expect to:- Hear tourism development success stories from businesses and practitioners across the state
- Hear directly from investors in tourism development-related projects on keys to success
- Learn how to utilize crowdsourcing to get your tourism business (or project) off the ground
- Expose potential tour operators, guides and outfitters to some of Oregon’s hidden gems from around the state who are hungry for your business
- Participate in think-tank sessions around statewide issues including: how to develop better wayfinding and signage; develop a statewide system for guides and front-line staff education; and how to design an interconnected active transportation system that works for visitors and residents
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Let Your Voice Be HeardTravel Oregon wants to hear from you regarding your perspectives and priorities for enhancements to the statewide tourism program. Our hope is that your feedback this spring will also help inform our work next fall as we begin to build our Strategic Plan for the 2017-2019 biennium. With that in mind, we are working with the Coraggio Group to conduct an independent, confidential survey to cultivate as much input from our partners as possible. Take the survey. Deadline for completion is April 4, 2016. The information you provide will be aggregated with input from other stakeholders in Oregon as anonymous feedback the Travel Oregon team will use to inform our planning process.
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What Impression Does Your Downtown Make? Rural Development Initiatives' First Impressions program provides a community with an objective assessment of its downtown’s true first impression on visitors. The knowledge gained from the assessment can be used as a catalyst for positive and effective community involvement, action and change —further leading to an improvement in the fresh appearance, offering of services, and infrastructure of a community. The program is offered through Rural Development Initiatives in collaboration with the Oregon Main Street Program. A limited number of communities can participate in the program each year. Learn more and apply.
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What's New with Basecamp? Anyone who has participated in a Rural Tourism Studio should already be set up with Basecamp, an online project management platform designed to ease communication and manage workflows. By this summer, Travel Oregon will transition all Rural Tourism Studio action teams from previous Basecamp versions (Basecamp 2 or Classic) to the new and improved Basecamp 3. Basecamp 3 has better functionality, increased user-friendliness, and other exciting features. To learn more about using the project management platform, view the online video orientation and help guides. If you’ve been frustrated with Basecamp in the past, be sure to check out the new transformation – we promise it’s better. Success with this powerful platform can only happen if all members of your team are committed to using it together.
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