Best Travel and Tourism Grants in Oregon

Travel Oregon

Mission: We inspire travel that uplifts Oregon communities. Collaborating with partners to align as stewards of Oregon, we work to optimize economic opportunity, advance equity and respect the ecosystems, cultures and places that make Oregon…Oregon.

Tourism Experience Studio

What local experience do you want to create for others?

Perhaps you have thriving markets and agriculture that, with more collaboration between producers, could lead to on-farm visitor experiences, farm-style dinners or more locally produced foods in area restaurants. Or maybe your scenic, low-traffic country roads would make for an outstanding bicycle experience if you could develop the amenities to support visitors. Or maybe you have myriad outdoor recreation experiences and they just need to be mapped and plugged in to Travel Oregon’s world-class visitor information system.

No matter what you’re offering, we believe that defining and differentiating your community’s opportunities can help you both increase economic vibrancy by drawing in visitors and improve local livability. The Tourism Experience Studio helps communities focus on key strategies to build tourism in a manageable, sustainable way—to stimulate the local economy while protecting and enhancing local resources and maintaining the qualities that make the place so special.

The Tourism Experience Studio is a streamlined one- to two-day workshop that helps communities strategize on how to develop and market specific tourism products. Communities can choose to focus on one type of product development – culinary and agritourism, outdoor recreation, or bicycling experiences. Ideally, communities apply to participate in a studio that aligns with the type of assets that exist locally.

Community Commitment

Communities participate in a one- to two-day workshop in which local participants collaborate to develop strategies to enhance unique tourism experiences in culinary and agritourism, outdoor recreation, or bicycle tourism. Following the interactive workshop, the local action team participates in a work session, facilitated by Travel Oregon, to outline a goal-oriented plan of action. Upon plan completion, the action team can apply for a Tourism Studio Matching Grant for up to $5,000 to complete one (or more) projects identified through the program.

We ask communities to commit to the following:

• Establish a local action team of approximately 5-12 members that will work with Travel Oregon during the planning and preparation phase, own the plan that will be produced during the program, and remain in place to support implementation of key projects identified during the program
• Recruit participants who represent a variety of community members—from business owners to elected officials to tourism operators—to help build the strategy
• Provide meeting venues and workshop space and assist with workshop logistics
• Foster key connections with local and regional leaders who should be part of the conversation
• Implement at least one priority project, with technical assistance provided by Travel Oregon
• Participate in program evaluation

The Tourism Experience Studio is offered several times throughout the year and the wait time can run 4-6 months.

Expectations for Participation

Interested communities must be prepared to make a significant and long-term commitment to leadership and participation.

Wine Country License Plates Matching Grants

Since 2015, Travel Oregon has administered this program to make grant awards available to “tourism promotion agencies” for projects that promote wine and culinary tourism in Oregon.

Funding for the matching grant program comes from a portion of sales of the Oregon Wine Country license plate. Since the program’s inception more than $2 million has been awarded to support 92 wine and culinary tourism promotion projects.