Category Archives: News Release

Meet our Summer 2018 interns!

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Rasha Aridi

Summer 2018 Sea Grant Scholar, Rasha Aridi is all the way from Virginia Tech. Double majoring in Wildlife Conservation and Journalism, Rasha has enjoyed her time on the Oregon Coast. Rasha loves whales and was able to see a Resident Gray Whale in Port Orford during a kayak tour! Tasha did extensive research and wrote a report on the many guided tours offered along the Oregon Coast. Anywhere from whale watching tours to guided fishing charters, Rasha is your expert. She also contributed to the blog postings.

Keana Pigg

Keana Pigg made the move south from Oregon State University. She is studying Digital Communication Arts and double minoring in anthropology and business and entrepreneurship. After studying abroad with Semester at Sea in the Fall of 2016, she discovered the need for more sustainable tourism practices. As one of the Summer Marine Studies Initiative interns, she worked with the Tourism program, developing her graphic design and video skills. She also helped develop the GORP Program and contributed to the website’s article postings.

Sophia Troeh

Sophia Troeh is a Summer 2018 Sea Grant Scholar from Gonzaga University in Washington State. Studying Biology and minoring psychology, she is interested in science outreach. In fact, during her spring semester she’ll be studying abroad in Turks and Caicos doing research and living the island life! This summer Sophia helped develop materials for the new Guide & Outfitter Recognized Professional (GORP) Program, researched and wrote articles for the tourism.oregonstate.edu website.

 

 

Oregon Coast Trail

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The Oregon Coast Trail (OCT) extends from the mouth of the Columbia River down to the California border south of Brookings. Most of the trail is along the beach, although some goes through state parks or on roads. One of the many benefits of hiking along the OCT is the experience of hiking through many of the state parks and landmarks along the coastline. The trail development began in 1971 by Oregon State Parks and is scheduled to be completed in 2021.

 


View from the OCT in Samuel H. Boardman State Park

 

Although it is officially incomplete, the OCT offers some of the best experiences of hiking in Oregon and can potentially be used as a thru-hike of the Oregon Coast. Planning a thru-hike offers the unique challenge of timing based on tides and planning ferry rides in certain areas, as well as finding ways to be shuttled to trailheads. Since the trail is still being developed, there hasn’t been a lot published or documented of how to thru-hike it. In addition, information for how to backpack or plan multi-day trips is still needed for the Oregon Coast.

Shore Acres State Park viewpoint

Oregon Travel & Tourism Impact

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In June of 2018 an updated report on the economic impact of travel and tourism to Oregon was published for Travel Oregon by Dean Runyan and Associates. This study shows that

The Executive Summary is presented below.

Executive Summary
This report provides detailed statewide, regional and county travel impact
estimates for Oregon from 1992 to 2017. The report also provides
average spending and volume estimates for overnight visitors for most
counties. The estimates for 2017 are preliminary. Secondary impacts and
travel industry GDP are provided at the state level.

Travel Spending, Employment and earnings continue to expand
The Oregon travel industry continued to exhibit strong growth in 2017, as
all measures of travel activity were up over 2016.
· Spending. Total direct travel spending in Oregon was $11.8
billion in 2017. The annual increase from 2016 was 4.7 percent in
current dollars. In real, inflation-adjusted, dollars travel spending
increased by 3.2 percent. Visitor spending, excluding
transportation, increased by 3.6 percent in current dollars. This is
the eighth consecutive year of growth in travel spending following
the recession.
· Travel Activity. An estimated 28.8 million overnight visitors
traveled to Oregon destinations in 2017 (preliminary). This
represents a 1.0 percent increase over 2016. Since 2010,
overnight person-trips have increased by 2.2 percent per year.
Domestic visitor air arrivals to Oregon (4.0 million) increased by
5.5 percent for the year. Room demand, as measured by STR, Inc.,
increased by 1.3 percent for the year.[1]
· Employment. Total travel generated employment was 112,200 in
2017. This represents a 2.2 percent increase over 2016, the
seventh consecutive year of employment growth following the
steep decline from 2008 to 2010. Employment has increased by
3.2 percent per year since 2010.
· Secondary Impacts. The re-spending of travel-generated revenues
by businesses and employees generates additional impacts. In
2017, these secondary impacts were equivalent to 58,300 jobs
with earnings of $2.8 billion. Most of these jobs were in various
professional and business services.
· GDP. The Gross Domestic Product of the travel industry was $5.0
billion in 2017. Overall, the travel industry is one of the three largest
export-oriented industries in rural Oregon counties (the other two being
agriculture/food processing and logging/wood products).
1. The STR reports were prepared for the Oregon Tourism Commission

For the full report see: OREGON TRAVEL IMPACTS, 1992-2017 June 2018