Portland tourism suffers from negative view of city

Posted March 2021

By Eva Wu

Staff Reporter

Portland’s hospitality industry has taken a critical blow due to tourists’ negative view of the city, especially downtown.

An Oct. 1 survey of 1,250 individuals nationwide was conducted by Engine Insights, where 69% of the respondents reported they had commonly seen Portland spoken negatively about in the media, and 37% of respondents said they contemplated the city as an undesirable vacation destination. On the other hand, 32% of responders said otherwise, considering Portland as an attractive vacation destination. Furthermore, 31% of remaining responders said to hold no opinions on the subject. With these responses, Travel Portland’s 2019 survey shows that more respondents thought Portland was more unappealing than appealing for the first time ever. In addition, 30% of respondents considered the city to be safe, while 35% said it was welcoming. Though, at the start of the year, 58% surveyed that Portland was a welcoming location, and 51% considered it to be safe. With the information reported in www.oregonlive.com.

Due to the pandemic, many cities around the country like Portland have seen tourism decline. With quarantine and social distancing advised worldwide, and the BLM demonstrations that have left downtown storefronts and government buildings damaged and vandalized, there is no surprise in the decrease of Portland tourists. According to travelandtour, hotel revenue in Portland went down by nearly 76% in October compared to the identical month last year. Whilst the hotel revenue in the central city was down nearly 84%, according to Travel Portland President Jeff Miller.

Portland national media coverage consisted of local and federal law enforcement officials clashing with downtown protests, shaping the city’s reputation as one of turmoil. Businesses boarded their windows due to many cases of looting during a riot in May, followed by a peaceful protest. Though in recent months, business owners have begun taking their boards down. And during those months were “well-publicised instances of vandalism” by a group of individuals, using the protests as a cover. For more details, visit www.travelandtourworld.com.

In the United States, statistics of international traveling spending has dropped immensely in 2020. According to Statista, recorded data through 2002-2019, about $155 billion was spent in 2019. The numbers plummeted to $36 billion in 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Though, it is expected that one-quarter of companies intend to recommence domestic business travel that would bring up 16% in January. More information can be found at www.ustravel.org.