Bend has evolved at light speed over the past 20 years. The city’s population has more than doubled. Downtown Bend has transformed from a sleepy burg into a nationally adored collection of shops, restaurants and galleries. Where a lumber mill once operated, now stands a premier collection of shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues. From craft brewing, healthcare, and innovative museums, to outdoor recreation, arts, and higher education – the sum of Bend’s parts have evolved into an incredibly compelling whole.
It is this sum of Bend’s parts that has driven the evolution of Bend’s tourism industry. From 2003 until 2012, transient room tax collections in the city of Bend grew by 42 percent. What was once a little-known regional gem, has evolved into an internationally recognized tourist destination that hosts over two million visitors annually, contributing over half a billion dollars to the regional economy.
As Bend turns the corner into 2013, it’s clear the year ahead will be critical for the continued evolution of the city’s tourism industry. Our city is primarily a leisure and recreation-based destination, and the list of landmark recreational projects currently being planned will have a transformative effect on the future of Bend’s tourism industry.
Projects like the Three Sisters Scenic Bikeway, the Bend Paddle Trail, the Colorado Street dam paddling park, the possibility of new mountain bike trails and a new chair lift at Mt. Bachelor, new paved pathways through the national forest, new mountain bike trails being designed and built by COTA, and the completion of the Deschutes River Trail, are just a few projects evolving in 2013 that will elevate Bend’s tourism industry to the next level.
As these projects and others like them come to fruition, it will be the challenge of tourism promoters to tell Bend’s story in new and compelling ways and invite new and returning tourists to visit our city and fall in love with the same extraordinary “sum of the parts” that we all did.
Coming off of two back-to-back excellent years for Bend’s tourism industry, 2013 presents enormous potential.
Despite the strong performance of Bend’s tourism industry, there is substantial room to grow. The primary growth opportunities exist in improving shoulder season and winter tourism, and diversifying the geographic origin of our visitors. Visit Bend’s long-term strategy is focusing on these two primary growth opportunities and we are looking forward to working with the community to achieve them.
For more information on Bend tourism and Visit Bend’s strategic plan, visit us at www.visitbend.com/research.
