Travel Oregon commission a Resident Sentiment Study to measure Oregon residents’ quality of life, perceptions of how tourism impacts their wellbeing and overall support for tourism in Oregon. Residents of each of the seven tourism regions were surveyed. Overall, Oregon residents widely support tourism in the state. Overall, Oregon residents widely support tourism in the state.
Key Statewide Insights:
- The benefits of tourism currently outweigh the negatives; however, increasing pressure on traffic, housing and jobs
may have long-term impacts on resident sentiment. - Oregonians have a high perceived quality of life in the state, and four in 10 expect their quality of life to improve
in the next year. - Oregonians value the state’s natural resources and feel a personal responsibility to protect and share
them. - Most Oregonians agree that increased media awareness benefits Oregon and the state should
promote itself.
Tualatin Valley is in the Portland Region of Oregon’s seven, defined tourism regions. Residents of the Portland Region includes Multnomah, Washington and Columbia Counties, as well “suburban” areas of Clackamas County.
Key Portland Region Findings
- Of the seven Oregon regions, Portland residents place about average in overall perceived quality of life (17.9 vs. 18.1 overall state). Roughly a third feel that their quality of life has improved from a year ago (35%, very similar to the overall Oregon average of 34%). However, they are optimistic that will improve in the future (41%, similar to the overall average of 40%).
- More than a third of Portland Region residents are promoters of their local community as a tourism destination (37% scored a 9 or 10 on a 0 to 10-point scale).
- Portland Region residents consistently feel the positive outweighs the negative impacts of tourism. Further, Portland Region residents post the highest positive scores on every type of impact (economic, environmental, cultural, and social). Similar to the overall statewide results, the largest positive/negative gap occurs in the economic impact (3.6 vs. 2.8, a 0.8-point gap) and the cultural impact (3.7 vs. 3.0, a 0.7-point gap). These two measures reflect the highest positive scores as well. On the other hand, environmental and social impacts, while positive
overall, face more criticism. - Portland area residents have visited the downtown area recently. More than a third have been downtown in the past week (38%). Further, three-quarters have been downtown
within the past two months (76%). - Portland appeals to its regional residents. Over half (57%) would likely recommend Portland as a place to visit (28% very likely, 20% somewhat likely). However, opportunities
for improvement exist, with more than a quarter (28%) unlikely to recommend it. - Three-quarters of Portland area residents believe Portland needs public relations/positive media coverage to attract visitors to the community (78%). Importantly, half “strongly agree” (48%).
About the Report
Future Partners was commissioned to complete this report More than 6,800 responses were collected across Oregon’s seven tourism regions between January and February 2024 using a combination of online panel surveys and partner-owned audience surveys to adults age 18+ who live in the state of Oregon.
The full report, which includes survey data, demographics and regional reports, is available on Travel Oregon’s website.