Travel Oregon Grants Benefit Communities

Since 2017, 10% of Travel Oregon’s annual budget has been dedicated to a Competitive Grants Program designated in state statute to enhance, expand and promote Oregon’s Tourism Industry. To date, more than $26.4 million has been awarded to support hundreds of projects and organizations across the state, benefiting visitors and residents alike. Additionally, $62.3 million has been put back into local communities since 2017 through the regional cooperative tax program (RCTP), which is also part of the state’s mandate to dedicate 20% of the state’s Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) into regional tourism programming and activities across the state. 

Travel Oregon provided some success stories:

• Travel Oregon invested $360,284 in the launch of the North Coast Express in an effort to not only reduce emissions and congestion on highways 101 and 26 but also make car-free day trips to the coast more accessible to city dwellers. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the Express provides hop-on, hop-off shuttle service from the Sunset Transit Center in Beaverton to Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Rockaway Beach and the Tillamook Creamery. 

• Travel Oregon invested $100,000 in the Oregon Coast Aquarium to transform the visitor experience at the touch pools, creating a more accessible exhibit with more animals and opportunities for guests to learn about marine life in tide pools, inspiring conservation and stewardship for oceans. The estimated annual economic impact for the Oregon Coast Aquarium is $171M, and improvements to exhibits boost visitation, bringing more tourism dollars to the rural, coastal communities in the region.  

• Additionally, through competitive grants and a partnership with Wheel the World, Travel Oregon has invested $7,114,822 in nearly 50 communities across Oregon, including Portland, designating the state as the first to become Accessibility Verified by the trusted accessible travel platform, Wheel the World. Accessible tourism not only breaks down barriers for people traveling with disabilities but also creates shared benefits for travelers and community members who may be aging, living or traveling with temporary disabilities, and those with young children.

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  Globally, 22% of the (working-age) global population lives with a disability. Factoring in their friends and family, disability impacts 63% of the population. According to a 2024 Open Doors Organization & Harris Poll, 25.6 million travelers with disabilities took 76.9 million trips and spent $50 billion in the U.S. alone. Those numbers could easily be double or triple that if those visitors felt confident and comfortable knowing what to expect and that they’d be welcomed and comfortable. 

• Travel Oregon invested $65,000 to help Tillamook County Visitors Association complete the Wheel the World audit, Dan Haag, Interim Executive Director said, “We did not have the budget for this project. Without the grant, our county would not be a Wheel the World Verified Destination. While individual towns along the north Oregon coast have earned the verification, Tillamook County is the first county-wide destination to receive the verification. This puts another, and much more meaningful, feather in our accessibility cap - and we're grateful for the financial assistance to do so.” 

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• Travel Oregon invested $100,000 in the Tillamook Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (OCSR). The grant was used to build a flat wheelchair accessible plaza area at the Garibaldi Depot, retaining walls that act as planters, ADA accessible ramps, sidewalks, and parking spaces, signage and more. OCSR feels it has achieved a great amount of success with this project, as the plaza is complete and open to the public.

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• $100,000 in funds were awarded to the Yachats Chamber of Commerce to purchase a trolley that would support tourism in Yachats. The Yachats Trolley provides convenient and accessible transportation for visitors and locals. The trolley will also help keep cars off the roads and make it easier for guests to travel from their hotels to town without needing to drive. This trolley will allow people with disabilities to travel to Yachats, relieving them of the need to find the limited ADA parking spaces in the center of town, Cape Perpetua, or Devil's Churn.