By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com
The triple whammy of a health pandemic, the subsequent economic downturn and wind-whipped wildfires have exacted a heavy toll on the tourism dollars normally flowing to the Oregon coast.
State tourism officials are now hoping to figure out possible solutions by tweaking major survey to ask respondents what type of help they need most to help recover.
They are encouraging people and businesses involved in tourism throughout the state to spend the 15 to 20 minutes it takes to complete the survey, which will help decide how and where nightly room taxes over the coming biennium.
“We just can’t stress enough how important it is for us to get this information,” said Jesse Dolin, destination coordinator for the Oregon Coast Visitors Association’s central coast region. “This is our opportunity to to gear our priorities to what people want to see in our area.”
The deadline for completing the 40-question survey is Friday, Oct. 30. Travel Oregon, the state agency that oversees tourism in the state, will review the responses before implementing its next two-year strategic plan in July.
At stake are some of the thousands of dollars raised annually by transient lodging taxes.
The money will be spread around the seven sub regions into which Oregon tourism planning is divided.
Traditionally, coastal voices account for a significant percentage of the total responses received.
That was true last time around, when more than 600 of the total 1,512 statewide responses received came from businesses or individuals involved with coastal tourism concerns.
“Getting more responses than any other sub region in the state was a real feather in our cap in terms of how much our stakeholders care about how these dollars are invested,” Dolin said. “Because we did so well last time, there’s almost a competitive feeling about the need to get as many, if not more, responses this time.”
The current survey is heavily skewed to elicit responses regarding the coronavirus-driven economic downturn and ensuing wildfires that left scores of tourism-related businesses either struggling to survive or faced with shutting down entirely.
One question, for instance, asks if businesses received money from the federal Paycheck Protection Plan. Another asks business owners if they have either layed off employees or plan to in the next six months.
The survey also asks respondents to identify three areas to help them recover from COVID-19, economic conditions and wildfires. Possible answers listed in the multiple-option format include grants, more tourism research and transportation options.
Another new area of focus concerns issues of social justice. One question asks businesses, with increasing numbers of travelers returning to the coast, if they are concerned about heightened political or racial tensions.
“We realize that some of our folks might well be ‘surveyed-out’ by this time,” Dolin said. “But we just don’t want to miss the chance to weigh in on these issues.”
