Oregon travel spending climbs, but still lags pre-pandemic levels

Published 6:00 am Monday, June 19, 2023

Travel spending appears to be climbing in Oregon but still hasn’t caught up with pre-pandemic levels when inflation is taken into account, according to a study done for Travel Oregon.

Spending by visitors in Southern Oregon is way up, too, although the study didn’t provide adjusted-for-inflation comparisons.

The study, released in May, was prepared by Dean Runyan Associates of Portland for Travel Oregon, the state’s tourism organization.

“The Oregon travel economy reached new highs across most categories in 2022,” according to an executive summary of the study. “In 2022, the amount of money spent directly on travel increased by 26.5% year over year, from $10.9 billion to $13.9 billion.”

But within the report, Runyan Associates points out that spending remains down from pre-pandemic levels when adjusted for inflation.

“Direct travel spending in 2022 exceeded pre-pandemic levels by $1 billion (8%),” according to the report. “However, taking into account the reduced purchasing power of the dollar associated with recent inflation, the true quantity of goods and services purchased by travelers still lags 2019 levels by approximately 7.3%.”

A color “fever chart” graph highlights the picture: It shows spending rising over the years to 2019 followed by a big dip in 2020, which in turn is followed by a quick rise through 2022, but levels haven’t reached 2019 levels.

Travel spending in Oregon last year was $13.9 billion, compared with $12.8 billion in 2019, according to the report.

The 271-page report, which is available on the Travel Oregon website (industry.traveloregon.com/research/category/all-research/), details spending by region, but Travel Oregon and Runyan Associates representatives said they didn’t have adjusted-for-inflation numbers for regional spending, nor did T.J. Holmes of Travel Medford.

“I’m going to have to defer to the professional economists and the official reports on the numbers and inflation calculations/adjustments,” Holmes wrote in a reply for comment.

Holmes, however, was more than willing to celebrate the numbers that he did have concerning increased spending, even if they were not adjusted for inflation.

“Southern Oregon as a region is up 25% compared to pre-pandemic levels, and Jackson County is up 16% when compared to 2019,” he wrote in a reply for comment. “Everything is trending in the right direction coming out of the pandemic.”

Spending by visitors in Southern Oregon last year was $1.28 billion, up from $1.02 billion in 2019, an increase of 24.93%.

The Southern Oregon region covered in the report took in Jackson, Josephine, Klamath and Lake counties, and the non-coastal portion of Douglas County. Among its highlights were increases in accommodation spending, employment and tax revenue.

Comparing 2019 with 2022 in Southern Oregon:

• Spending by visitors staying in hotels, motels and short-term vacation rentals rose 26.1%, from $473.8 million in 2019 vs. $597.2 last year.

“We’ve seen a rise in supply of intermediaries/short-term vacation rentals (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.) coming out of the pandemic that has contributed to the increase in accommodation revenue,” Holmes wrote. Medford started collecting lodging taxes from short-term vacation rentals in October 2020, accounting for 16% of lodging tax revenue since then, he said.

Two new hotels — Compass Hotel by Margaritaville and SpringHill Suites — opened in the past year, while a third, Home2Suites, has been approved with construction “on the horizon,” he said.

• Spending by visitors staying in campgrounds soared 65.5%, from $68.2 million in 2019 to $112.9 million last year.

The reason for such a large increase in spending by campers is uncertain. Messages left for comment with Runyan Associates were not returned.

Nathan Seable, who is responsible for the management of Valley of the Rogue State Park, gave it a shot as to why there was an apparent increase.

“I could speculate on some things,” he said. “A huge driver is the economy. Inflation has been up, fuel prices have been up. Usually when that happens, people make more local choices.

“Another factor could be 2022 was our centennial year for Oregon State Parks. There was a massive amount of media and advertising and celebrating.”

Another likely factor is that people just want to get some fresh air.

“We’ve attributed it to people wanting to be outside, because of the pandemic,” Seable said.

He expects the park to be packed again this summer.

“Once the kids are out of school … we’re going to be full,” he said.

• Visitor spending on arts, entertainment and recreation was down 5.5%, from $120.8 million in 2019 compared to $149.2 million last year. People stayed away from indoor venues during the pandemic, which still lingered on last year.
• Employment rose 5.28%, from 12,510 jobs in 2019 to 13,170 jobs last year.
• Air travel spending was up 1.4%, from $52 million in 2019 to $52.8 million last year.

Amber Judd, director of the Medford airport, confirmed that airport passenger flow fell 5.16%, from 1,087,873 passengers in 2019 to 1,031,693 last year.

“We’re almost back to that 2019 number,” she said.

Passenger numbers so far this year are down 8.7% from 2022, however. Through May, 344,645 passengers used the airport, down from 377,495 passengers during the same period last year.

Judd attributed the drop to higher costs spurred by fuel price increases combined with fewer flights due to a pilot shortage across the country.

“I hope we can interest people to get into aviation and become a pilot,” she said.

She hopes for a bit of an increase in travel this summer as Allegiant Air starts service to San Diego.