Are you prepared for the Aug. 21 Solar Eclipse? 

In one month we'll experience one of nature’s most incredible and rarest celestial events. Communities and state partners have been working for years to prepare for the solar eclipse. On July 21 at 12 p.m. Travel Oregon is hosting Oregon eclipse experts during a special Facebook Live Q&A. Please join the conversation with Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), Oregon Office of Emergency Management, Oregon State Parks and the Department of Forestry and leave questions in the comments on Facebook. For bulk orders of the Eclipse Resource Guide, please connect with your Regional Destination Management Organization (RDMO). For more information about the eclipse and how you can prepare, check out the Eclipse Toolkit. 

Grant Applications Accepted Until Aug. 9

Travel Oregon’s Competitive Small Grants program is currently open. Eligible applicants may be awarded up to $20,000 and must demonstrate at least a 10 percent cash match. Download the Competitive Small Grants Guidelines for specific eligibility requirements and to view the application questions. In addition, applications are being accepted for the Oregon Wine Country Plates Matching Grants Program with awards of up to $50,000 to further develop wine and culinary tourism initiatives. Applicants must demonstrate a one-to-one match with at least 50 percent of matching funds being cash. Download the Wine Country Plates Matching Grants Guidelines for specific eligibility requirements. The application deadline for both programs is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 9, 2017.  

Action Needed: Update Your Listings by Aug. 25 

The Oregon Tourism Information System (OTIS), formerly known as the Orb, is set to launch the week of September 18. In preparation, we are moving content from the Orb to the new OTIS platform. To ensure listing updates are not lost during the transition, it is necessary to halt content updates starting on August 26 until OTIS launches. To avoid impacts to your website, TravelOregon.com and other partner websites, please make sure your listing updates – especially your September events – have been submitted to the Orb by Friday, August 25 at 5 p.m. Travel Oregon will host a series of OTIS training webinars for DMO partners in early October. Webinar dates will be announced in the coming months. For more information, contact Kate Jorgensen at Orb@TravelOregon.com. 

Oregon Sports Tourism Opportunity

An incredible opportunity to showcase your community through sports tourism will come in the summer of 2021, when nearly 2,000 international track and field athletes will descend on the State of Oregon for the IAAF World Championships (August 6-15, 2021). The event will take place over nine days at Hayward Field in Eugene. Of the 214 federations traveling to Oregon to compete in the 2021 Championships, many will travel to the U.S. prior to the August competition to give athletes a chance to train in Oregon's climate. Federations will be seeking locations that provide appropriate amenities for their athletes to train, eat and sleep. If your community would like to be considered as a potential team training location, you must complete the online questionnaire. Delegates from Oregon will attend the 2017 IAAF Championships in London next month to get additional details on how to prepare for an event of this magnitude, as well as showcase our amazing state. Learn more at: gotracktownusa.com/oregon21.

2017 IPW Recap

In June, Travel Oregon’s Global Sales department, along with 11 Oregon delegates, traveled to Washington, D.C., joining 6,000 tourism buyers and suppliers at the travel industry’s premier international tradeshow, IPW. Oregon delegates conducted more than 300 trade and media appointments with tour operators and journalists from all of Travel Oregon’s key international markets. Meetings were also held with delegates from the emerging markets of Mexico, India and South Korea. Travel Oregon’s newly rebranded 600-square-foot booth featured inspirational images of Oregon’s seven regions and included a dramatic archway featuring Crater Lake National Park. For more information on IPW, please contact Heather Platanias at Heather@TravelOregon.com.