Starting in 2016, JWA has provided research, advice and facilitation to Travel Oregon, the state’s tourism marketing organization. The purpose of this work was to help the tourism industry address visitors’ and workers’ needs for better mobility services around Oregon’s major destinations.
Oregon has a number of major destinations that are outside of cities and therefore difficult to serve with transit. Examples include Crater Lake National Park, Smith Rock State Park, Mt. Hood, wine country, and the iconic Oregon Coast. While American visitors to Oregon expect to rent a car and drive among these places, international visitors expect to be able to tour the state by public or private transit.
In addition, many of these places have developed a housing crunch that drives low-wage workers to live far away and suffer the costs of long commutes. For the tourism industry, transportation is not only needed to attract and satisfy visitors, but also to attract and support workers.
To help Travel Oregon and its industry partners confront these challenges, JWA provided:
- Research on the mobility solutions provided for visitors and workers at major tourism destinations in other states and countries.
- Advice on strategic priorities for Oregon, and potential pilot projects
- Advice on improvements to public information and marketing of mobility options
- Facilitation of meetings among state transportation providers, focused on the needs of tourism destinations.
- Contributions to a workshop for tourism providers on the Oregon Coast focused on transportation