More Than $240,000 Awarded Through Oregon Wine Country License Plates Matching Grants

The Oregon Wine Country License Plates Matching Grants Program has been awarding grants to local communities since 2015. In light of recent events and understanding how much the culinary community needs support right now, Travel Oregon is pleased to announce that eight projects have been awarded a total of $243,000 in grant funding through the Oregon Wine Country License Plates Matching Grants Program.

Funded through revenue generated by the sale of Oregon Wine Country specialty license plates, this matching grants program helps advance wine and culinary tourism projects that improve and strengthen local economies and communities by growing and promoting Oregon’s tourism industry. Submissions for this grant cycle were received in February and awarded projects will be completed by August 2021.

See the list of awardees in the press release.

Photo by Papersky Magazine

Register for the Travel Oregon State of the Industry Webinar

On Wednesday, April 29 at 1:30 p.m., join Travel Oregon CEO, Todd Davidson, along with Alana Hughson, Managing Director of Oregon Destination Association, and Jason Brandt, President & CEO, Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, for an in-depth discussion to inform the industry of our efforts to address the needs of travelers, partners, stakeholders and residents in a time when up-to-date information is crucial. Takeaways include a look at overall economic outlook, recovery strategies and opportunities that will guide us in preparing for the next phase of this crisis.

Photo by Justin Myers Photography

Travel Oregon Announces 2019 Economic Impact Numbers

New numbers released by Dean Runyan Associates show that 2019 was Oregon’s tenth consecutive year of record growth in travel-spending and visitation. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the travel and tourism industry to a screeching halt, these numbers indicate that travel and tourism will be a vital part of the state’s economic recovery. It's clear that Oregon’s tourism industry plays an integral role in the state’s economy. Since 2008, the industry has shown steady growth in earnings and employment, ranking second after agriculture and food. In terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the tourism industry is one of the three largest export-oriented industries in rural Oregon counties (the other two being agriculture/food processing and logging/wood products).

In 2019:

Total direct travel spending was $12.8 billion, a 3.6% increase over 2018.
Total travel-generated employment was 117,500, a 1.4% increase over 2018.
Employee earnings were $3.8 billion, a 6% increase over 2018.
The GDP of Oregon’s travel industry was $5.8 billion.

These numbers reflect the impacts generated by the tourism industry prior to COVID-19. Economic impact numbers for 2020 will likely be drastically different.

More information is available here.

Federal Update

On April 21, the Senate and White House reached an agreement on an additional $483 billion in a coronavirus aid package to replenish funding for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. The bill is expected to pass the House on Thursday. Unfortunately, 501(c)(6) organizations were not made eligible for the PPP but can continue to access the EIDL. Travel Oregon has reached out to the Oregon delegation of senators and representatives to request that future relief packages allow 501(c)(6) entities to participate in the PPP. We have also requested to increase the duration of PPP loans and extend the loan forgiveness period.

For additional resources and assistance, visit the COVID-19 Toolkit.

Photo from iStock

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