Oregon Tourism Commission Staff Report | April 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS Optimize Statewide Economic Impact............................................................................... 2 Drive business from key global markets through integrated sales/marketing plans leveraged with global partners and domestic travel trade ..................................................... 2 Facilitate the development of world-class tourism product in partnership with community leaders, tourism businesses and key agencies .................................................... 7 Guide tourism in a way that achieves the optimal balance of visitation, economic impact, natural resources conservation and livability ....................................................................... 10 Inspire overnight leisure travel through industry-leading branding, marketing and communications ...................................................................................................................... 10 Support and Empower Oregon’s Tourism Industry ...................................................... 39 Provide development and training opportunities to meet the evolving tourism industry needs ......................................................................................................................................... 39 Implement industry leading visitor information network ................................................... 46 Fully realize statewide, strategic integration of OTIS (Oregon Tourism Information System) .................................................................................................................................... 47 Deploy tourism programs (e.g. RCTP, Competitive Grants) in a powerful way that fulfills unique opportunities and challenges as defined by the tourism industry .......................... 48 Champion the Value of Tourism ......................................................................................... 51 Grow and align strategic partnerships to leverage resources and capacity to address key issues ........................................................................................................................................ 51 Empower and equip Oregon’s tourism industry with power of travel and issue-oriented messages .................................................................................................................................. 52 Run an Effective Business .................................................................................................... 53 Attract, develop and retain top talent .................................................................................... 53 Continuously review, improve and document policies and processes/procedures ........... 54 Improve internal alignment amongst Travel Oregon departments .................................... 55 Measure and drive employee engagement and satisfaction ................................................. 55 April Commission Meeting Bend, OR OPTIMIZE STATEWIDE ECONOMIC IMPACT Drive business from key global markets through integrated sales/marketing plans leveraged with global partners and domestic travel trade TRADESHOWS AND SALES MISSIONS Mountain Travel Symposium: South Lake Tahoe, CA, April 8-14 Travel Oregon along with representatives from Oregon hotel properties, Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory and Central Oregon Visitors Association attended the Mountain Travel Symposium in South Lake Tahoe this March. Mountain Travel Symposium is the largest and longest running annual gathering of mountain travel professionals in the world, with more than 1,100 representatives from 35+ countries. Travel Oregon met with 20+ tour operators promoting Oregon ski product to international buyers. Receptive Tour Operator (RTO) Summit East: New York City, NY, April 16-19 RTO Summit East is a marketplace and conference bringing together receptive tour operators with destinations and suppliers for one-on one marketplace meetings and industry educational tracks. Travel Oregon will meet with 10 receptive tour operators mainly servicing European and South American markets. National Tour Association (NTA) Contact: Charleston, SC, April 18 -21 Travel Oregon attended NTA Contact, an exclusive buyer event that blends business, education and fun in an intimate setting. Contact fosters buyer-to-buyer conversation and partnerships and allows tour operators, travel agents and sponsoring suppliers and DMOs to connect, create and collaborate in a three-day program. Travel Oregon will have a joint sponsorship with Travel Portland which includes prominent logo placement on key cards to keep Oregon top of mind with attendees. Travel Oregon will meet with North American tour operators either currently selling or looking to include Oregon in their tour itineraries. AeroMexico Mission: Mexico City, April 23-26 Travel Oregon and key industry partners will join the Port of Portland to attend their sales mission to Mexico to support the new nonstop service to Mexico City on AeroMexico. The mission will include meetings with AeroMexico representatives, the Brand USA Mexico office, media and other international travel partners to discuss future partnership opportunities to promote the nonstop service. Snow Travel Expos: Melbourne & Sydney, Australia, May Travel Oregon, in partnership with Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory, will participate in the Snow Travel Expos in Sydney and Melbourne, targeting high-value consumers interested in visiting Oregon for skiing and snowboard experiences. This opportunity also aligns with Pg. 2 April Commission Meeting Bend, OR expo screenings of the Warren Miller film, “Line of Descent” which will be preceded by a :30 Travel Oregon winter sports focused video spot. US Travel Association’s IPW Tradeshow: Denver, CO, May 20-23 Travel Oregon along with 14 Oregon delegates, representing every region of the state, will participate in the US Travel Association’s 50th Annual IPW. This tradeshow is the largest generator of travel to the U.S. During the event Travel Oregon partners and staff will conduct almost 300 one-on-one, business to business appointments with tour operators, wholesalers, travel buyers and media representing an array of global inbound tourism markets. In addition to official activities, Travel Oregon will host a client event for targeted buyers and media from Oregon’s key global inbound markets at Urban Farmer in Denver. Travel Oregon will also host the Chairman Circle receptions in partnership with Visit California. Travel Alliance Partners (TAP) Dance: Atlantic City, NJ, June 4-8 Travel Oregon will lead a delegation to the Travel Alliance Partners annual conference – TAP Dance and will serve as a key sponsor. Travel Alliance Partners was officially established in 2001 and is a member-owned organization of premier tour operators in the United States and Canada. Members purchase products in a profitable fashion, pass the savings on to the consumers and increase market share with key suppliers. RESEARCH TRIPS Delta Air Lines Sky Magazine: Japan, April 26-30 A two-person editorial team from Delta Air Lines inflight publication, Sky Magazine-Japan, visited Oregon researching and photographing print and digital editorial content for a story that that will reach an audience of 1,091,792 active Asian travelers. The magazine is in the back-seat pockets on Delta Air Lines flights throughout Asia as well as US bound flights departing from Asia. This cover/feature story will include Eugene and Portland and will focus on the World Track and Field Championships, running, trail running and unique experiences in Oregon. In addition to the regular travel/destination feature, the team is planning to interview Delta’s new brand ambassador in Oregon, Suguru Osako, a well- known Japanese runner. Brand USA Mega Fam: United Kingdom, April 28 – May 1 Sixteen UK travel agents will participate in a Brand USA Mega Fam which included four days in Oregon. These agents are the top-selling and most engaged professionals in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They have earned these coveted spots on the MegaFam based on the volume of sales of British Airways and American Airlines flights to the United States. Over 100 agents will participate on several of these MegaFams throughout the States, and at the finale event in Nashville in May, all of the agents will have the opportunity to present their collective experiences to each other. Pg. 3 April Commission Meeting Bend, OR Jucy RV Rentals Instameet: Oceania & Canada, May 9-13 Five key influencers representing the Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S. will travel to Oregon for a Jucy Instameet road trip through the state to highlight unique experiences travelers can have on a Jucy RV adventure in Oregon. An Instameet is when a group of Instagram influencers meet in-person, explore a destination and take photos together to post on their accounts. The social phenomenon is used as a destination marketing strategy as a way to generate social buzz among diverse audiences. This program has the potential to inspire an estimated 500,000 global explorers to book a Jucy RV adventure and travel to our state. Jucy RV rentals are a household name in Australasia and their expansion into the Pacific NW will drive incremental, global inbound business to the region. Albatros Travel: Scandinavia, May 11-17 Albatros Travel is building a new 15-day tour of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana with 5-6 nights in Oregon (visiting Portland, Astoria, Klamath Falls and Crater Lake). Focus of