"Portland tourism is bouncing back from COVID, but hiring challenges may
hold back full recovery

Published: Jul. 21, 2022, 6:53 p.m.

Portland’s tourism and hospitality industries are seeing a welcome
return of business, but a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels is not
expected until 2024 at the earliest, industry leaders said Thursday.

In the four weeks ending July 9, demand for hotel lodging in Portland’s central business district — an area that includes downtown, the Pearl District and the Lloyd District — increased by 28% over the same time
period last year, according to data provided to Travel Portland by STR,
a hotel industry research company. More than 176,000 room nights were
booked in 2022 compared to 138,000 in 2021.

“As any of us walk through downtown or in the city, we can see and feel
that the hum of the city is definitely coming back and, in some cases,
is back when we see those weekend events where we’ve got tens of
thousands of people down here and experiencing the city,” said Megan
Conway, chief strategy officer at Travel Portland. “It’s been a really difficult time period for our hotel partners, but the data that we have
does give us extreme optimism for the future in Portland.”
[snip]

The biggest problem for our businesses downtown is that two
things reduced foot traffic. Fewer people are using all those office
spaces downtown and they're getting less tourism. Most of the tourism
downtown is tied to conventions, cultural and sporting events and
various other public events. A lot of that stuff is returning this year.

TB

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