Blow to hospitality industry as tourists’ views of Portland turn negative

Friday, December 11, 2020

According to a survey commissioned by Travel Portland, which promotes the city’s tourism industry, Portland’s reputation among tourists took a major hit this year.

In an Oct. 1 survey of 1,250 people nationwide conducted by consumer research company Engine Insights, 69 per cent of respondents said they had generally seen Portland mentioned negatively in the media and 37 per cent said they considered the city an unappealing vacation destination.

In comparison, 32 per cent of respondents considered Portland an appealing vacation destination, marking the first time since Travel Portland started the survey in 2019 that more respondents considered Portland unappealing than appealing. The remaining 31 per cent of respondents said they didn’t have an opinion either way.

That compares to 54 per cent of respondents saying they considered Portland an appealing travel destination at the beginning of 2020 and 43 per cent saying they considered Portland appealing at the start of 2019. Travel Portland, which cut its staff by 40 per cent in April as tourism and hotel revenue plummeted, ran the survey four times in 2019, but just twice this year due to budget cuts.

“I’m still very optimistic that Portland is a compelling story, and once you get here, you get it,” Travel Portland President Jeff Miller said.

Portland, like cities across the country, has seen tourism plummet this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hotel revenue in Portland was down nearly 76 per cent in October as compared to the same month last year, while hotel revenue in Portland’s central city, where seven hotels still remain closed, was down nearly 84 per cent, said Miller in a presentation to the Portland City Council Wednesday.

Oregon’s lodging sector has shed 8,600 jobs in the past year, with total employment plummeting by one-third.

The City of Portland received $30.8 million in general fund money from hotel room taxes in the 2019-20 fiscal year, a figure that is sure to drop substantially this year.

But the coronavirus pandemic isn’t the only challenge that Portland’s tourism industry could face as it tries to recover.

Portland drew national media coverage this summer as demonstrators and local and federal law enforcement officials clashed in nightly protests downtown, giving the city a reputation for upheaval. Downtown businessesbegan boarding their windowsafter many were looted during a riot on May 30 following a peaceful protest for racial justice.

While some business owners have begun taking boards down in recent months, there has continued to bewell-publicised instances of vandalismby a small group of people using the protests as a cover.

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