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For Portland's Tourism Industry, Things Are Looking Up—But There's Still A Long Way To Go

By Julia Silverman May 3, 2022

2021 brought some recovery for Portland's tourism industry, per new data, but the city still has a ways to go to get back to its pre-pandemic status with visitors.

Image: Shutterstock

Portland’s hospitality industry is tentatively rebounding after two brutal years, but it could be years—optimistically, not until 2024—before its hotels , short-term rentals and airport usage reach pre-pandemic use levels.

The city is both “not alone, and not where we want to be,” said Megan Conway, the Chief Strategy Office for Travel Portland, at the annual “State of the Industry” event, held in person at the Oregon Convention Center Tuesday for the first time since 2019. The pandemic walloped travel and leisure worldwide; in Portland proper, news-making protests, more visible houselessness, and stricter pandemic safety regulations than in much of the rest of the country all added to that toll.

And yet, there are concrete signs of hope, Conway told the crowd.

Visitor spending in 2019 in the greater Portland area—which includes Multnomah, Washington and Columbia Counties and the urban stretches of Clackamas County—reached a high of $5.625 billion in 2019, the highest total ever. In 2020, that number fell off almost 60 percent, to $2.180 billion—then ticked back up in 2021, to $3.765 billion.  That’s still below pre-pandemic totals by about a third, but well above the lows of 2020.

What hasn’t budged much is the number of people employed by the hospitality industry , which was one of the hardest hit of the entire pandemic. In 2019, there were almost 37,000 people employed in the industry in the Portland area—in 2021, there were just 27,100, about 700 more than in 2020.

And keeping those that remain isn’t going to be a picnic, Conway says—hiring new people is tough, given the labor shortage, and in surveys, around 70 percent of hospitality employees say they are looking for other work, after dealing with one too many belittling and overly demanding customers.

While a less-touristy city might have surface appeal for locals — fewer crowds at trailheads and farmers’ markets and less competition for prime restaurant reservations — it has a direct impact on the city and state’s bottom lines.

Fewer tourists has translated to a significant drop in local and state tourism tax collections, which are then reinvested in public services, like social services and schools. In 2019, for example, the tourism tax added $278 million to the state of Oregon’s bottom line; in 2021, it was $193 million—a 30 percent increase from a dismal 2020, but still well below pre-pandemic levels.

Still, some things are trending up. Portland’s national reputation, which took a beating in 2020 from Fox News and other right-leaning outlets that broadcast selectively alarming images from downtown protests on a seemingly continuous loop, has stabilized, Conway said Wednesday. I n a 1200-person survey of potential travelers completed in April, 72 percent said they hadn’t heard Portland mentioned in the news in the past two months; additionally, 44 percent of respondents said Portland was an “appealing” destination.

As they are returning, however, fewer people are choosing to stay in hotels in the downtown core or in the Lloyd District, where the bulk of the city’s hotels are concentrated. Collectively, central city hotels had revenue of more than $450 million in 2019; in 2021, it was just $180 million.

Marcus Hibdon, who is Travel Portland’s Director of Communications, says the city’s core hotel sector was poised for more of a rebound in spring and early summer of 2021, before the Delta surge and the resumption of pandemic-era restrictions, including required indoor masking.

Among competitor cities, with whom Portland is in head-to-head competition for conventions and leisure travelers, only Minneapolis had lower hotel room occupancy in its central business district in 2021; central business districts in Nashville, San Antonio, Phoenix, Austin, and Denver all had higher occupancy levels than Portland's and were able to charge more for hotel rooms too.

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Report: More Than 29 Million Overnight Visitors Came To Oregon Last Year

A new economic impact report released by the Oregon Tourism Commission shows continuous growth in the state's tourism industry. Visitation and spending increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2018.

Travel spending in the state was $12.3 billion in 2018 — a 4.2% increase from 2017. The report estimates that more than 29 million overnight visitors came to Oregon last year.

Oregon also saw an increase in the number of overnight visitors and travel-generated employment.

“We’ve been coming back quite robustly from the great recession of 2008 and 2009,” said Todd Davidson, Travel Oregon’s CEO.

As for particular regions of the state, the Portland area saw the most overnight visitors last year with 26.6 million visits from single travelers and 13.1 million visits from traveling groups. The Willamette Valley came in second followed by the Oregon Coast.

Related: E-Scooters Return To Portland

Mount Hood and the Gorge saw the least number of overnight visitors last year with 3.5 million single travelers and 1.4 million traveling groups.

Davidson said he found it encouraging that tourism growth is occurring throughout the state, not only in specific spots.

“The benefits of the visitor industry are being felt statewide,” he said. “As tourism has grown in Oregon roughly 4% year over year, we were seeing similar rates of growth in regions throughout the state.”

Travel-generated employment in Oregon was also high last year. There were more than 115,000 employees hired in travel-related jobs such as accommodation and food services, retail and transportation. That’s an almost 3% increase from 2017.

A number of factors point to Oregon’s tourism industry continuing to grow over the years, Davidson said, including increased visitation and spending from international travelers.

“Our growth in international spending is outpacing the national average rate of growth for last year nearly four-to-one,” he said.

“The nation grew about 1-1.2% and we grew nearly 5% in international visitor spending.”

Davidson said he also expects the International Association of Athletics Federation’s World Championships, being hosted in Eugene in 2021, to draw in tourists.

“It’s going to be Oregon’s opportunity to be showcased on a global stage,” he said. “We’ll have competitors here from over 200 different countries.”

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Tourism in Portland still struggling, on the mend

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Portland might have made some progress after 2020, but some stats released today show there’s still more work to be done.

Travel Portland met with Portland City Council on Wednesday morning to present findings on the state of tourism in town.

The study showed that despite efforts to improve public perception of the city, locals are still hesitant to recommend it to friends and family.

In 2017, 88% of locals surveyed said they would recommend the city to friends and family. This year, that number is at 61%.

“Results show that Portland residents and younger residents are more likely to recommend the city as a place to visit. Additionally, how recently people visited downtown has a direct correlation to whether or not they recommend the city,” Travel Portland’s Chief Strategy Officer Megan Conway said in Wednesday’s meeting.

Greg Astley, the Director of Government Affairs for the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association, told Fox 12 the public perception is keeping the hotel industry down.

“Whether it’s the crime that we hear about, the homelessness issue, and the feeling that people may have, the perception that it’s not safe to be in downtown Portland…those are some of the things people are hearing.,” Astley said.

Portland hotels showed a 12% improvement in bookings from last year, but between 2019 and this year, there were 80,000 less room bookings in the month of April.

“Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done quickly,” Astley said. “We’ve heard from the city that there are plans for two years out, three years out. Some of these hotels don’t have two months. Their occupancy rates are such that they are barely breaking even, if they are even doing that.”

In Downtown restaurants like Huber’s Café, the data is no surprise either.

“Dollar-wise, we’re probably down I would say 20% from that period of time,” said owner James Louie, comparing to business levels in 2019.

“With the vandalism and some of the violence, there’s a perception even from people who live in Portland that it’s not safe to come downtown,” Louie added.

Travel Portland representatives said they’re putting together a group of younger locals to shine a light on downtown businesses and restaurants, for a change in perception that those in the tourism industry hope will push things out of the red.

“I think we find that when people come to visit Portland, they find that it’s not as awful as they thought it was going to be, and it turns out to be a more positive experience,” said Astley.

You can read Travel Portland’s full report here: ext-2023-06-07-city-of-portland-presentation-submission-copy.pdf

Copyright 2023 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.

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Willamette University unveils new Graduate & Professional Center in the heart of Portland

by Paul McKean, August 29, 2024

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Just in time for the start of the fall semester, Willamette University officially opened its new Graduate & Professional Center at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Portland attended by local elected officials, representatives from the Portland Metro Chamber and Ecotrust, and leaders from across Willamette’s campuses.

In the newly renovated space located just two blocks from the university’s Pacific Northwest College of Art , students in Willamette’s top-ranked graduate programs in business management , computing , and data science will enjoy a dynamic and modern center for collaborative learning and teaching.

The Willamette Graduate & Professional Center marks the university’s latest strategic investment in serving as a hub for knowledge and developing innovative leaders within the city of Portland.

“A flourishing city needs a strong higher education sector. But we also believe that a strong university — a university that can develop students who are ready to turn knowledge into action — needs to be in a flourishing city,” said Willamette University President Steve Thorsett. “The ability to expand our reach and our vision into Portland is an exciting chapter for Willamette, and I think it will increasingly be recognized as an exciting chapter for Portland as well.”

Members of the Portland business community and public sector celebrated the move. The Portland Metro Chamber assisted with the official ribbon-cutting ceremony and presented Willamette with a proclamation declaring August 26, 2024, “Willamette University Graduate Center Grand Opening Day in Greater Portland.”

“Willamette University truly lives by its motto: Not unto ourselves alone are we born. It educates future leaders with a global perspective and a passion for serving the community,” said Ben Forstag, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Portland Metro Chamber. “And by opening this new campus in the heart of our city, the university is demonstrating its commitment to the community here in Portland.”

Portland City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez BA’97, JD’00 praised Willamette’s commitment to downtown Portland. The undergraduate and College of Law double-alum also explained how his Willamette experience prepared him for a life of public service.

“Willamette is where I got to meet my wife, play soccer, and engage socially and intellectually,” Gonzalez said. “I am forever grateful for what Willamette has done for my life, and I am ecstatic that they're choosing to double-down on the city of Portland.”

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