PROMOTING OREGON ON TOURISM GREEN.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

With its mineral hot springs, acres of flower gardens and easy access to rafting, golf and mountain biking, the McKenzie River Valley's vacation spots are busy this time of year.

But they could be busier.

Daniel Fischer, who operates the Belknap Hot Springs Resort, says he relies mostly on word of mouth to attract his visitors, primarily people from Portland, Eugene and Central Oregon.

Tourism promoters and Fischer himself believe Belknap and other area resorts could offer the type of vacation destination that people around the world would enjoy - if only they knew what Lane County's McKenzie River Valley has to offer.

"I haven't marketed Belknap as much as a guy should, just because of the fact that we are doing so much expansion," said Fischer, who runs the McKenzie Bridge resort for his uncle and owner, Norm McDougal. "We're trying to push more in that direction, to have people from all over come and stay."

Thanks to a new statewide tax on hotel and other lodging bills, which delivered its first batch of dollars to the state last month, promoters are preparing to greatly increase their efforts to get the word out about Oregon's beaches, golf courses, fine cuisine and rugged outdoor adventure opportunities.

A new $9.3 million spending plan triples the amount Oregon will spend to advertise in national and regional magazines, to schmooze travel writers and to expand efforts to sell Oregon to potential tourists in Germany, Japan and Mexico, where airlines have introduced nonstop flights to Portland in recent years.

When it approved the 2004-05 budget, the Oregon Tourism Commission and state travel and hospitality industry leaders finalized a strategic marketing plan that details how tourism officials hope to lure more tourists to Oregon. It also describes the kinds of travelers most likely to provide the best economic return.

A commission study found that every dollar spent on advertising Oregon as a vacation spot generates $114 in visitor spending. Todd Davidson, commission director, said that was the conservative conclusion of a survey that found a recent $350,000 media buy led to 220,300 new trips to Oregon, with an economic impact of $40 million.

The commission report identifies a "target demographic" for Oregon's tourism industry that is likely to yield the highest economic return. It is working parents in their 30s to mid-50s who are seeking something more personal in a vacation.

With Oregon's mix of tourist-friendly cities and small towns and its beaches, mountains, rivers, lakes, resorts and outdoor activities, it has plenty to offer such visitors, the report says.

But the "marketing challenge," it says, is that other tourist destinations such as Washington, California and British Columbia "have an even stronger positive image than Oregon" among potential West Coast vacationers.

Davidson said there's a reason for that: money.

"The reason our competitors were stronger was that they had more money to spend to create a stronger image in the marketplace," he said. "That's where we were losing the battle.

"Now we'll be much more able to compete."

The 2003 Legislature approved a 1 percent statewide tax on overnight lodging that was pushed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

Previously, Oregon ranked 46th among the 50 states in spending to promote tourism. Now, with the new tax projected to raise an additional $8 million to $9 million a year, Davidson said Oregon should rank in the middle.

That's not enough to compete with giants like California and Florida, he said, but it's enough to put Oregon back in the game when it comes to convincing people from the Western United States, Europe and Asia that an Oregon vacation is just what they're looking for.

Glossy brochures, magazine-style vacation guides and courting tour bus operators and travel writers is nothing new to Oregon tourism marketers. But the new money means there will be more such promotion.

Even before the new tax dollars started reaching the state in June, ads had been produced showing a Portland chef, a golfer, an outdoor adventure-seeker in the Columbia Gorge and a Umatilla Indian, each posing in an attractive Oregon setting accompanied by descriptive text on pages made to look like they're from a well-worn volume called "The Book of Oregon."

Each ad features the state's new slogan, "Oregon, We Love Dreamers," and a phone number and Web address for vacation planning assistance.

Davidson said market research shows the latest ad campaign, along with those preceded it, have been effective but haven't reached a large enough audience. The new tax money means more "ad buys" in vacationer publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Sunset and Backpacker Magazine - and not just during the fall and winter, when the next season's vacations are being planned, but throughout the year.

Other components of the state's new strategy to guide its use of the new travel-marketing revenue include:

Take advantage of new nonstop flights linking Portland to Japan, Germany and Mexico by spending more to promote Oregon as a vacation destination for people from those countries and their neighbors.

That could mean helping underwrite tour operators' promotional discounts, setting up booths at travel and trade shows, increasing advertising, and entertaining foreign media.

Use tourism marketing to promote Oregon-produced wines, seafood and agricultural products, and manufactured goods.

Davidson said recent market research confirms the notion that people who visit Oregon have a greater awareness of the quality of such goods than those who haven't been here.

That's why encouraging people to visit will help expand the market for everything from Oregon beef, salmon and hazelnuts to Leatherman tools and Willamette Valley pinot noir, he said.

Advertise and promote Oregon year round, to provide more stability to tourism-dependent businesses that see their trade drop off in the fall and spring, and to capitalize on the growing number of vacationers who take shorter, more frequent vacations with less advance planning time.

Encourage more visitors to make Oregon their vacation destination - rather than a place to visit on their way to someplace else - because people who stay overnight tend to eat at nicer restaurants and spend more money shopping.

"The destination trip is the one you save for," Davidson said, "and that can impact where you choose to eat, where you choose to stay, etc."

CASHING IN ON TOURISM

Research conducted for the Oregon Tourism Commission by Dean Runyan and Associates concluded that tourism is an economic boon for the state. Among its findings for the year 2003:

Tourism brought $6.3 billion into Oregon.

Travel spending generated more than $241 million in local and state tax revenues.

Travel spending generated more than 129,200 direct and indirect jobs with earnings of $3 billion a year. Most jobs were in food services, lodging and recreation.

CAPTION(S):

Belknap Hot Springs Resort is just one of many hot spots that could benefit from lodging-tax revenues for which tourism officials have far-reaching plans.