Travel Portland Strategic Plan: July 2022–June 2024

TRAVEL PORTLAND STRATEGIC PLAN: JULY 2022 – JUNE 2024

MAY 26, 2022

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Portland metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other tribes and bands.

For thousands of years, these groups created communities and summer encampments along the Columbia and Willamette rivers and harvested and used the plentiful natural resources of the area.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850 forcibly removed these tribes and offered free land to white settlers, who quickly laid claim to 2.5 million acres of tribal land, including all of what is now Portland.

It is a testament to the resiliency of Indigenous peoples that Portland’s urban Native community now includes nearly 70,000 people from nearly 400 tribes.

Travel Portland takes this opportunity to acknowledge this history, to honor the region’s Native American community, and to thank the original caretakers of this land.

Photo: Travel Oregon

ABOUT US Our Mission

Our Values

We generate travel demand that drives economic impact for Portland.

We care about our city and our community.

Our Vision

We hold ourselves accountable for making equity, diversity & inclusion more than just words.

Travel Portland is a promoter and steward of this evolving city and its progressive values, which have the power to transform the travelers who visit us.

We are approachable and welcoming.

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.

OUR FOUR KEY BUSINESS OBJECTIVES 1. Implement equity, diversity and inclusion practices across Travel Portland’s operations and strategies

2. Monitor and enhance Portland’s reputation as a visitor destination 3. Generate demand for Portland as a leisure-travel destination 4. Generate convention business opportunities for the city

OBJECTIVE 1: IMPLEMENT EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (EDI) PRACTICES

OUR APPROACH At Travel Portland, we hold ourselves accountable for making equity, diversity and inclusion more than just words. We are taking action to ensure that our organization is learning and applying the competencies necessary to become a better employer, business and community partner. We believe that we are strongest when we embrace the strength of our differences.

We are committed to developing programs, partnerships and campaigns that reflect the dimensions of diversity through our destination's people, places and experiences. We seek to make every effort to promote an authentic visitor experience rooted in the cultural tapestry of our communities and the hospitality and tourism industry. And we hold ourselves accountable to anti-discriminatory interactions guided by allyship, direct and open communication, integrity and mutual respect.

Our work

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Develop and implement EDI practices across Travel Portland's internal operations

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Provide value-added EDI resources to support new and existing community partners

Page 11

Increase awareness and interest to visit the destination among diverse audiences Support and invest in local and regional initiatives focused on the attraction and retention of a diverse tourism workforce

Be accountable to EDI priorities by improving systems and processes that track and measure progress

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DEVELOPING CLEAR EDI PRACTICES ACROSS TRAVEL PORTLAND'S INTERNAL OPERATIONS As an employer, it's important to define success – and our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion for our employees. We’re committed to doing the work first and holding ourselves accountable before asking the same of others.

We’ll implement internal policies and practices grounded in equity and have challenging but critical conversations that drive commitment to living out our EDI priorities, which include: • re-launching Travel Portland University, an employee benefit that provides employee training and professional development assistance; • delivering EDI training for staff; • conveying Travel Portland's commitment to EDI during the employee onboarding process; and • hiring staff to support the ongoing implementation of EDI programs and activities.

SUPPORTING NEW AND EXISTING COMMUNITY PARTNERS We’ll continue to attract and invest in BIPOC vendors and partners, while improving our internal systems: our community sponsorship guidelines and application processes; our partner database; and our accounting systems that track our spending with BIPOC-owned businesses.

We’ll also develop a plan to deliver EDI programming and training for the hospitality community, as well as a new fundraising event that supports the Travel Portland Foundation’s scholarship program.

We’ll help under-represented enterprises and organizations understand how to leverage tourism opportunities for success by: • hosting partner trainings, and educational and networking events; • supporting events like My People’s Market; and • enhancing brick-and-mortar establishments’ online presence via Google My Business support provided by our vendor, Locl.

Photo: Prosper Portland

INCREASING AWARENESS & INTEREST TO VISIT PORTLAND AMONG DIVERSE AUDIENCES As storytellers, we will: • continue to develop our EDI-centered content curation process; • create more opportunities for content creators of color to cover Portland businesses, using their own authentic voices and platforms; and • elevate the voices of BIPOC creators and business owners in the PR team’s media pitches.

And, as a sales organization, we’ll continue to attract new and repeat diverse convention groups to the city.

SUPPORTING THE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION OF A DIVERSE TOURISM WORKFORCE We will support local and regional initiatives that are focused on attracting and retaining diverse talent by forging partnerships with secondary schools, local universities and colleges, and community-based workforce training programs.

TRACKING AND MEASURING OUR PROGRESS

We’ll utilize Destination International’s EDI benchmarking tool to ensure internal accountability – and measure our effectiveness against industry standards.

And we’ll invest in relevant EDI market research that informs segmented sales and marketing strategies and approaches.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES Convention Sales Report on efforts to attract conventions of diverse organizations, including 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.

Metropolitan Exposition & Recreation Commission (MERC) Travel Portland shall: • comply with MERC's First Opportunity Target Area (FOTA) Program; and • submit to MERC semiannual written reports that detail the organization’s FOTA compliance efforts.

Community Engagement Travel Portland seeks to maintain and grow the number of minority partners actively participating with our programs, services and activities.

OBJECTIVE 2: MONITOR AND ENHANCE OUR REPUTATION AS A TRAVEL DESTINATION

REPLACE

OUR APPROACH

To help shape Portland’s reputation – which is determined by what our customers say, not what we say – we’ll work to improve and enhance visitors’ onthe-ground experience.

Our work

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Develop a strategic framework for community engagement, including a strategic investment program for products, infrastructure and/or events that enhance visitation

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Develop and implement a visitor-facing strategy that supports visitors’ pre-arrival planning and in-market experiences

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Promote and inspire travel to Portland via PR, marketing, advertising, and sales efforts

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS Applying an EDI lens, we’ll make investments in: • visitor infrastructure and other enhancements to the visitor experience; • existing events with large out-of-town audiences; and

• fledgling new events.

Portland Winter Lights Festival. Photo: Ralph Daub

Doing so will drive leisure demand; activate a vibrant Central City; help rebuild residents’ and visitors’ confidence in the destination; and broaden and deepen our community partnerships.

VISITOR-FACING STRATEGY To support visitors’ pre-arrival planning and enhance their inmarket experiences, we’ll: • determine the need for a bricks-and-mortar visitor center, based on customer needs; • create and enhance capacity for consistent phone, email and website response; • build capacity to create dynamic visitor- and delegatefacing content, including printed collateral; and

• explore partnerships with the Oregon Convention Center, Downtown Sidewalk Ambassadors and event producers to serve visitors where they are.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES Consumer Sentiment

Community Engagement

Report consumers’ perceptions of Portland captured via a national survey panel.

Conduct a biennial survey of visitor industry businesses and leaders to gauge knowledge and enthusiasm for Travel Portland programs.

Public Relations Measure and report: • total impressions, overall tone and number of media placements that could potentially affect consumer perception of Portland as a business and leisure travel destination; • our success in placing key messages in media placements; and • the number of media engagements in which at least one BIPOC business is highlighted.

Ensure broad representation from Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington and Columbia counties in each of the following categories: accommodations, dining, transportation, attractions/activities, retail and services.

Continue to work with the State and Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas and Columbia counties in pursuit of cooperative marketing opportunities.

OBJECTIVE 3: GENERATE DEMAND FOR PORTLAND AS A LEISURE-TRAVEL DESTINATION

OUR APPROACH With business travel lagging and the convention pipeline needing time to refill, Travel Portland will make strategic, aggressive investments to inspire and convert consumers in order generate leisure travel demand in the form of overnight stays at Portland hotels and short-term rentals.

Our work

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Drive awareness

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Drive engagement

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Convert to purchase/ visitation

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Partner with the Portland Film Office

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DRIVING AWARENESS Our “always-on” approach will address pressing need to generate leisure travel demand year-round – will include: • a foundational, proactive public relations program of work that generates positive earned media coverage about the things that differentiate Portland as a compelling travel destination;

• seasonal and video-centric digital advertising campaigns that proliferate visually compelling and diverse stories of the best and latest that Portland has to offer, targeting key West Coast feeder markets; and • investments in sponsored content with digital publishers that share our values and can reach our target audience with a combination of compelling articles, photos and video content.

When market conditions warrant, we’ll expand our efforts to English-speaking international markets that have direct flights to PDX, including Canada, the UK and the Netherlands.

DRIVING ENGAGEMENT Applying an EDI lens, our content team will leverage BIPOC and LGBTQ+ creators, stories and subjects to produce an unprecedented number of authentic and diverse Portland stories.

We’ll pay particular attention to Portland’s culinary scene, a demonstrated travel motivator for our target audience.

We’ll lean heavily on video content to drive engagement, which we’ll ensure via robust investments in: • “always-on” social-media advertising; • enhancements to TravelPortland.com; and • search engine marketing and optimization strategies that ensure that our website remains a leading and influential source for Portland content.

And, when market conditions are right, we’ll deliver targeted content to travelers in English-speaking international markets that have direct flights to PDX, including Canada, the UK and the Netherlands.

CONVERTING TO PURCHASE/VISITATION We’ll complement our strong awareness and engagement strategies with conversion-centric partnerships with online travel agencies (OTAs) that have a proven ability to generate incremental room nights for Portland hotels and short-term rentals.

These strategic investments will target travelers in key domestic and – as market conditions warrant – international feeder markets.

We’ll also look to collaborate with short-term rental partners such as Airbnb to tell stories about Portland’s diverse neighborhoods and experiences with compelling content on their sites and social channels.

Advertising/sponsored content

Public relations: earned media

Awareness

Social media & digital content strategy

Engagement

THE FUNNEL: AT A GLANCE

Search engine optimization/marketing

Online travel agencies

Conversion

PARTNERING WITH THE PORTLAND FILM OFFICE We’ll enhance the Film Office’s efforts to attract and book television, film and video productions that generate overnight stays at local hotels.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES Key Indicators

International Visitation

Portland Film Office

We’ll measure: • hotel demand, comparing Portland to competitive markets; • consumer intent to travel to Portland (both regionally and nationally); and • the impact of our advertising campaigns, including incremental visitation and market spending.

Once non-stop service to Europe and Asia returns, we will re-establish our measurement of international visitors.

Work with the Portland Film Office to develop performance measures and establish benchmarks, incorporating the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Begin by benchmarking a full year after these flights restart and work with Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company, to develop a competitive set of destinations for comparison.

OBJECTIVE 4: GENERATE CONVENTION BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE CITY

OUR APPROACH With dogged determination, the Travel Portland team will work to reignite the local convention and meeting economy with focused convention marketing solutions and strategic business development initiatives.

Our work

Read more

Rebuild the business pipeline

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Enhance face-to-face engagement with customers

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Maximize industry partnerships and sponsorships Create short- and long-term incentives to win more business Rebook business via top-notch customer service

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REBUILDING THE BUSINESS PIPELINE We will take a data-informed approach to target business to fill identified need periods. To support these efforts, we’ll: • increase staffing to pre-pandemic levels; • set aggressive prospecting goals, tied to sales managers’ compensation;

• embed the VP of EDI in our sales efforts as we pursue diverse organizations to meet in Portland; • enlist local advocates to support our sales efforts to national associations; and

• incorporate B2B best practices to support the sales effort with a restructured integrated sales and marketing process that includes:

• an updated CRM system that tracks the full sales funnel, from initial contact to definite; ranks potential business to focus the sales team’s prospecting efforts; nudges Sales Managers to connect with their clients at exactly the right time; and visualizes the sales funnel through dedicated dashboards; and

• an updated marketing approach that determines the most persuasive top-of-funnel messaging; advertises broadly against social, digital and print; qualifies new customers through inbound marketing techniques; uses relevant content to nurture relationships with existing customers; and provides tools to support the sales team at every step in the sales process, with a special focus on helping the team reconnect with the planner at just the right time to ensure Portland’s inclusion in the RFP process.

RFP issued

1. Discovery

2. Qualification

3. Nurturing

4. Reconnecting

5. Proposing and Closing

6. Servicing

7. Following Up

ENHANCING FACE-TO-FACE ENGAGEMENT WITH CUSTOMERS We will engage with our expanding pipeline of clients by: • investing in a robust outbound travel schedule with activity in every geographic territory; • funding a Travel with Us program that enables Tourism Improvement District (TID) hotels to attend tradeshows with Travel Portland team;

• creating unique and memorable activations and events; • crafting and hosting familiarization (fam) tours of Portland designed to boost clients’ perception of the destination; and • redesigning our exhibit booths to provide us with greater exposure at trade shows.

MAXIMIZING INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS & SPONSORSHIPS To further support the sales pipeline, we’ll enter into agreements with our third-party clients – including HelmsBriscoe, ConferenceDirect, Maritz, HPN, and Lamont Associates – in order to increase communication, marketing and RFP opportunities with the organizations they represent.

And we’ll forge partnership agreements with key industry associations – including ASAE, PCMA, and Association Forum – to gain access to exclusive events, increased marketing opportunities, and greater exposure to our customers.

CREATING SHORT- AND LONG-TERM INCENTIVES TO WIN MORE BUSINESS Most large conventions are booked several years in advance.

To help these customers get to a Yes, we’ll utilize the Visitors Development Fund (VDF) to offset conventionrelated expenses, boost Portland’s competitiveness and overcome clients’ objections.

Concurrently, we’ll create targeted financial incentives for customers considering Portland for a meeting that will take place within a much shorter window.

And we’ll support this two-pronged approach with a healthy budget to fund site visits for clients who need to see Portland for themselves.

RE-BOOKING BUSINESS VIA TOP-NOTCH CUSTOMER SERVICE Our award-winning Convention Services team will enhance planners’ and delegates’ on-the-ground experiences – and earn rebooking opportunities – via exceptional customer service throughout a seamless, complementary sales/service process that includes: • targeted, pre-arrival social media marketing to the members of Portland-bound organizations, helping boost attendance;

• assistance with custom Portland promotional video content to help build excitement around the destination; and

• assistance – for city-wide groups using the Oregon Convention Center – in creating a fun “Welcome to Portland” experience that may include a local entertainment, pop-up experiences with local makers, and a photo booth.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES City of Portland Travel Portland will: • report ROI on convention sales and marketing programs, utilizing Destinations International’s economic impact calculator; • report on efforts to attract conventions of diverse organizations (see Page 16); • monitor and track cancellations and lost opportunities; and • report the results of post-convention surveys of meeting planners to gauge customer satisfaction. (Minimum: 6/year.)

Additional Performance Measures Travel Portland also establishes: • annual performance measures and contract targets with the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission (MERC); and • annual room-night goals with the Convention Sales Steering Committee.

THANK YOU