In Oregon, we’re fortunate that our official tourism commission intimately understands not just how valuable cycling is to our economy, but that it is simply an awesome, fun, and healthy way to experience our state.
We’ve covered Travel Oregon’s efforts to promote and enhance bike tourism for many years and I’m happy to see that their interest hasn’t waned. They recently put out a “Bicycle Tourism Update” email and it was so full of cool stuff I wanted to give it more attention.
Here are the things they’re supporting and working on:
New video to promote mountain biking
This video is a solid marketing effort (only quibble is that none of the featured riders is a woman). Travel Oregon says it’s part of a relaunch of the RideOregonRide.com website that showcases the best routes and bike-friendly services statewide.
Bicycle Tourism Summit coming March 16th
Travel Oregon will host a gathering of trail and tourism advocates from across the state. Top items on the agenda will be updates from the Oregon Bicycle Tourism Partnership, the formation of a statewide trails association, and best-practice insights on building world-class cycling experiences. Since there’s so much interest in bike tourism from every corner of Oregon, meetings like this are rare opportunities to network and learn from people who don’t often make the trip to Portland. The event will be on day two of the Oregon Active Transportation Summit, which is organized by The Street Trust (watch for a separate post on that next week).
Oregon Timber Trail named “Best New Route”
It hasn’t taken long for the Oregon Timber Trail (OTT) to capture the imagination of the adventure riding world. It launched just this past year and has already been awarded Best New Bikepacking Route by Bikepacking.com. Here’s what they said about it: “Planned around educating the trail’s users about the history, sensitive or threatened areas, communities, and Oregon’s diverse landscapes from California to the Columbia River Gorge… the route’s agenda, presentation, and intent makes it deserving of a best route award.” Congrats OTT crew!
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Bike tourism strategy for East Lane County
One of the coolest things Travel Oregon does is host “rural tourism studios”. These intenstive workshops bring together planners, advocates, and politicians from specific areas to strategize ways to improve existing bike-related attractions and build new ones. The latest studio was held in East Lane County which is home to the drool-worthy riding areas in and around Eugene, Oakridge and Westfir. The result is a strategy document (here) and more assets for Travel Oregon to use in marketing the area. Check out this East Lane County itinerary published on the Travel Oregon website.
New brochure on fat biking the Southern Oregon Coast
Never ones to shy-away from the latest and greatest cycling trends, Travel Oregon is all about fat biking. After years of research and recon, they’ve helped produce four fat bike routes along the southern Oregon Coast. Each route has detailed information available online and they’ve dropped print brochures into hotels and tourism information centers. And that’s not all! In the coming months they’ll have the same resources available for routes on the central and northern sections of the coast.
Oregon is a fantastic state for cycling. How about a huge round of applause for all the advocates and agencies working to make it even better!
*Disclaimer: Travel Oregon is a financial sponsor of BikePortland.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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