Ibelieve the best is yet to come for Portland. With a front-row seat to the policy decisions that are making our city safer and more welcoming, I see Portland’s visitor appeal increasing. Investments in attractions, infrastructure and the people who will champion our city toward its rightful future have me bullish on what we can accomplish and the stories we can tell.
In that spirit, I’m excited to share the following roadmap, which orients our work around key priorities that will cement Portland’s cultural footprint and re-establish our status as a global travel destination.
As outlined in this business plan, we will continue to invest in the programs that deliver the biggest ROI, while leaning into new initiatives that capture Portland’s creative spirit and separate the city from its competitors.
From thought leadership in key areas of marketing and strategic communications to results-producing sales incentive programs and industry-leading social media activations, Travel Portland is in the right places at the right time to succeed.
Our team is poised to do the work, and we look forward to collaborating with you.
Thank you for your partnership.
To Portland’s future,
Megan Conway President & CEO Travel Portland
Increase Portland’s Destination Appeal
We are not just stewards of the visitor experience (Page 10)—we also steward the city’s brand.
Track Consumer Sentiment
Travel Portland will continue to actively monitor what travelers are feeling and saying about the city through quarterly surveys of 1,200 Americans, an on-demand social listening tool, 24/7 media monitoring, and other primary and secondary research. This data will guide our work.
Address Negative Media Narratives
To complement our ongoing PR efforts (Page 4), Travel Portland will continue to lead and fund a community-wide strategic communications program that:
• Utilizes local experts and current data in timely responses to negative media coverage.
• Provides shared messaging that elected officials, community members, tourism stakeholders and other spokespeople can use to highlight positive developments.
• Proactively pitches positive stories about Portland’s livability and economic vitality.
• Circulates positive coverage (our “Good News” newsletter) to local stakeholders for amplification.
Lean Into Our Differentiators
Visitors come to Portland for countless reasons, as varied as the shelves at Powell’s: our beer and biking scenes, diverse cultural communities, distinct neighborhoods, a vibrant music and arts scene, our come-as-you-are vibe, easy access to the outdoors, tax-free shopping, our creative spirit and more.
We will continue to tell all of those stories. But in an increasingly competitive tourism landscape, we will sharpen our message by working with community partners to create data-driven strategies that elevate two experiences that Portland truly owns.
• Research proves Portland’s culinary scene is a top travel motivator. With the arrival of the James Beard Public Market, we will double down on food and drink, staking our claim as a global leader.
• We will position Portland–the host of the Women’s Final Four in 2030–as the global epicenter for women’s sports: a must-visit
destination for fans and a must-choose destination for event organizers.
Champion a Livelier Convention District
Spurred by customer feedback, we will advocate for more dining, shopping, nightlife and entertainment options for convention delegates in the Lloyd neighborhood.
Contractual
Performance Measures: City of Portland
Measure and report media placements influential and inspirational in creating travel demand to Portland in media outlets actively targeted by Travel Portland’s media relations efforts. Travel Portland will report the number of placements in these outlets and the total number of impressions generated.
Measure and report the number of media engagements in which at least one minorityowned business is highlighted within a single topic or series of discussions.
Report consumer sentiment of Portland from a national audience but with a focus on the West Coast.
Attract Leisure Travelers
Travel Portland makes strategic, data-driven investments designed to attract leisure travelers and generate overnight stays at Portland hotels and short-term rentals.
Maintain a Steady Drumbeat of Activity
Our Public Relations Team–which pitches and hosts targeted media to generate positive coverage that helps inspire visitation—will continue to shift its primary focus from traditional media paradigms to social media in pursuit of consumer audiences.
Our Content Team partners with influencers and content creators to produce short-form videos, which we will continue to distribute and promote via our industry-leading social media channels. We will also explore collaborations with cultural influencers and creators outside the travel sector to share unexpected and engaging perspectives on Portland with their fans.
Our popular, authoritative website serves up inspirational and practical content across the entire trip-planning journey. Enhancements on deck include improvements to our events calendar and ongoing optimizations to ensure prominence in search results and AI summaries.
We will also continue to invest in:
• Local dining promotions like Dining Month, Sandwich Week and Pizza Week.
• Search engine marketing and optimization.
• Social media advertising in key markets to ensure travelers see our content, whether it’s on our channels or with our collaborators.
• Online travel agency (OTA) sites like Expedia to carve out greater visibility and generate incremental room nights.
underlined =new initiatives
Crank Up the Volume
During Need Periods
We will fill gaps in the city’s convention calendar with ad campaigns in proven feeder markets and year-round optimized digital marketing to address select “soft” weekends.
Attract International Visitors
We attract travelers from the United Kingdom, Europe, Oceania and Japan with enhanced PR, in-country representation and promotions with Travel Oregon, Brand USA and airline partners. Meanwhile, we will continue to track consumer sentiment across Canada, and when conditions improve, we will plan an aggressive return to this essential market.
Partner With the Portland Events & Film Office
Events, television and film production generate overnight stays and create positive exposure for the Rose City.
Contractual Performance Measures:
City of Portland
Report the following measures:
• Hotel demand
• Consumer intent to travel to Portland
• Ad accountability–report visitation and/ or market spend based on Travel Portland sales/marketing programs.
Travel Portland will measure, monitor and report quarterly its percentage of total international visitation market share compared to our competitive set of Baltimore, Denver, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City, as determined by Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company.
Advance the Organization’s EDIA Practices
Equity, InclusionDiversity, and Accessibility
Our commitment to EDIA remains a steadfast operational priority, a core part of our work and a distinct competitive advantage. We believe every community has a voice. Our role is to elevate those voices, connect visitors with the people who define our city, and ensure the economic benefits of tourism are shared equitably across our community.
Enhance and Expand Internal EDIA Initiatives
To further operationalize EDIA across the organization, we will:
• Deepen EDIA-centered staff training, ensuring content is relevant, actionable and embedded into daily practice.
• Ensure that our EDIA initiatives are crossfunctional and organization-wide.
• Further align and integrate diverse storytelling initiatives across teams.
• Support and monitor the work of the Destination Accessibility Committee, which advances Portland as a leading accessible destination.
• Track, analyze and report Travel Portland’s Minority/Women Based Enterprise (MBE/WBE) supplier spend to maintain transparency and accountability in our spending.
Strengthen Local Engagement and Collaboration With Diverse Communities
To ensure that Portland’s diverse communities are authentically represented and equitably benefit from the visitor economy, we will:
• Maintain and strengthen relationships with multicultural chambers of commerce and other community partners as critical collaborators.
• Continue collaborating with the Multicultural Tourism Advisory Committee as a key advisory body.
underlined =new initiatives
• Invest in cultural, accessibility-related and queer-focused events and initiatives that promote community connection and appreciation.
• Engage in community outreach in support of the Multicultural Sales and Services Strategy (Page 9).
Invest in the Training, Attraction and Retention of a Diverse Tourism Workforce
To champion a more inclusive and resilient hospitality workforce, we will offer EDIA-focused training and resources to industry partners. We will also leverage the Travel Portland Education and Training Foundation to:
• Partner with Portland Community College and the Small Business Development Center to help small businesses grow and build capacity.
• Provide scholarships to strengthen the tourism talent pipeline in partnership with
Contractual Performance Measures: City of Portland
Maintain and grow the number of minority partners actively participating with our programs, services and activities.
Ensure that Portland’s minority enterprises and organizations are able to connect with and benefit from the local tourism and convention industry.
Maximize marketing and servicing of minority conventions and tourism.
Support educational and training activities that help minority enterprises and organizations understand how to leverage tourism opportunities for success.
Generate Convention Business
A busier convention calendar in 2028 will help brighten the city’s lodging outlook. In the meantime, we will aggressively target smaller groups to fill short-term gaps, while our sales, marketing and PR teams work to rebuild the sales pipeline for vital large-scale bookings.
Regenerate the Convention Business Pipeline
To create a consistent foundation of future group business for hotels, we will:
• Deepen relationships with meeting planners and decision-makers via familiarization tours, trade shows and in-market sales missions.
• Host key industry events that showcase the city, generate new leads and change perceptions.
• Create new business promotions that generate client interest, deliver exceptional value and set us apart from our competition.
• Provide a suite of innovative convention services offerings to assist planners, maximize the delegate experience and support the re-booking efforts of our sales team.
Create Citywide Business Compression
To create compression–the high-demand market condition that elevates hotel KPIs and spreads guests throughout the city–we will leverage Cvent, Tourism Economics and other technology platforms to identify short- and long-term business opportunities for the Oregon Convention Center, thus building a consistent foundation of group business for hotels.
underlined =new initiatives
Elevate Our Multicultural Sales and Services Strategy
We will continue to identify and target key multicultural accounts, build support for our work and enlist local advocates, including key business, government, hospitality and community leaders—all while developing additional marketing tools to support sales efforts.
Aggressively Pursue the Sports Tourism Market
To produce incremental room nights and economic impact for the city, we will:
• Broaden our successful partnership with Sport Oregon–with which we booked the 2030 Women’s Final Four–to promote the region to host competitive youth sports tournaments.
• Continue building a database of prospective tournaments through tradeshow attendance and outreach to national sport governing bodies.
• Produce a sales, marketing and PR campaign for the Fall 2027 opening of the Portland Expo Center Sports Complex.
Contractual Performance Measures: City of Portland
To aid in assessing Travel Portland’s overall effectiveness, the ROI for each fiscal year will be established no later than Sept. 15, based off the Destinations International Economic Impact Calculator.
Report on efforts to attract conventions of diverse organizations. Those include: Black, Hispanic or Latino, Asian, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities and any other groups who self-identify as diverse. Report to include: new bookings, total bookings, room nights from bookings, leads and leads lost.
Monitor and track lost opportunities and cancellations.
Conduct and report survey results of meeting planners, local chapters of convention-going organizations, and/or conventioneers to gauge customer satisfaction with regards to Travel Portland’s performance in assisting these groups in soliciting, planning and servicing their conventions. Conduct and present results from a minimum of six surveys a year.
Other Performance Measures
Travel Portland will also complete all reports as required by the organization’s contract with the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission (MERC).
Strengthen the Visitor Experience
Serve Visitors Where They Are
We operate an exceptional Portland Visitor Center, working with local partners to host events and maximize opportunities for visitors to connect with local businesses.
Our visitor center staff provides travel guidance at pop-up booths during large city events, and informs our visitor-facing content and print collateral with on-the-ground insights.
Our mobile app, Near Me Now, provides actionable inspiration; planned enhancements include new features like daily event listings and refined search functions.
Steward Portland’s Tourism Infrastructure
We will improve destination quality and support exceptional visitor experiences through:
• Sponsorships and grants to support event organizers, cultural organizations and tourism infrastructure.
• An expansion of Rose City Certified (our training program for front-line industry staff) via local outreach to additional stakeholders and a new slate of educational and networking events.
• Progress toward a permanent central city wayfinding system, implemented in collaboration with PBOT and others.
• Advocacy for policies and investments that serve visitor needs.
Through partnerships and strategic investments, we ensure that Portland has the necessary tourism assets and infrastructure–and help visitors make the most of Portland. underlined =new initiatives
Reinforce Collaboration With Tourism Stakeholders and Industry Partners
To deepen relationships and drive collective impact, we will:
• Maintain active engagement across tourism industry sectors.
• Amplify partner voices, align priorities and share industry insights.
• Lead regional tourism efforts with Travel Oregon and our partners in Washington, Clackamas, Multnomah and Columbia counties to maximize strategic investments that strengthen destination development and the visitor experience.
Contractual Performance Measures: City of Portland
Conduct a biennial survey of visitor industry businesses and leaders to gauge knowledge and enthusiasm for Travel Portland programs.
Ensure broad representation from Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties in each of the following categories: accommodations, dining, transportation, attractions/activities, retail and services.
Continue to work with the State and Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties in pursuit of cooperative marketing opportunities.
Mission
We generate travel demand that drives economic impact for Portland, strengthening the visitor experience through collaboration and stewardship.
Vision
We advance Portland as a vibrant, creative and welcoming city where every visit sparks joy and connection.
Values
We care about our city and our community.
We are approachable and welcoming.
We hold ourselves accountable for making equity, diversity, inclusion & accessibility more than just words.
We assume good intent and invite collaboration.
We take pride in our work and always seek to do better.
We are responsible stewards of our financial resources.
