(The Tetherow Resort Golf Course | Photo courtesy of DVA Advertising & Public Relations)
As we bounce back from the pandemic, tourism and recreation are rebounding with a vengeance. Recreation company pros say they have had exceptionally busy spring seasons and that so far, summer is equally as active with tours and bookings. People want to get out and enjoy life again, and they want to do it now!
“So far this summer, we’ve been slammed! Usually we start to pick up steam around Memorial Day, but this year we have had guided rides and skills clinics bookings regularly since spring break,” says Kirin Stryker, co-owner of Cog Wild bicycle touring company along with her husband, Lev Stryker. “Right now we’re above normal levels of tourism. We had to black out availability on Memorial Day and Fourth of July since we don’t have enough staff to cover demand.” Last spring, Cog Wild took on Cascadia Junior Cycling as its primary market for locals, Stryker explains, and they increased youth offerings and filled the majority of 2020 spring and summer programs for ages 4 to 18. “We’d like to increase local participation; we’ve been planning to do a direct mailing campaign to sell our shuttles, skills clinics and adventure rides to folks who have moved to Bend in the last year, but we’ve been too busy with the day-to-day operations to complete that project,” she says.
“We are seeing outdoor recreation and leisure travel demand that is equal to or exceeding what it was in 2019, pre-pandemic,” says Justin Yax, partner and public relations director of Bend-based DVA Advertising & Public Relations, which specializes in leisure travel and outdoor recreation destinations in the west including Mt. Bachelor, Tetherow Resort, Visit Central Oregon, Campfire Hotel and Cascade Lakes Brewing Company. “This is not the case across the board, but it is for the companies we work with in Bend, the Hood River area and in Colorado and Montana. All of these are popular destinations that are on trend for what people are looking to do right now. They are riding that first wave of pent-up demand.”
Courtney Braun, naturalist guide and sales manager for Wanderlust Tours, says they had an “amazing” spring, and that so far, summer is following suit. “People are excited to be learning and be outdoors again; their enthusiasm is definitely nice to see again. The appreciation for getting back outside has grown. For people who have been cooped up for so long, the ability to get out and see wildlife during the day and the stars at night is invigorating.” She adds, “It’s been fun to feel a sense of normalcy again. Business levels are back up, and we are starting to get group business again, which was definitely lacking last year. Our regular individual traffic is back to the normal summertime feel as well.”
Recreation Trends
At DVA, Yax and the team work with a dozen different destinations, he says, and one of the things they do is monitor trends to help the destinations forecast what they can expect from a tourism standpoint. Two trends Yax says he thinks will be popular this summer and fall are midweek travel and reunion travel. “So many people have greater flexibility with remote work options now that I feel like, from what we’re hearing, more people will travel midweek than in years past. They can still get work done while having fun.”
The other trend, reunion travel, involves multi-generational, extended-family-type travel. “Families who haven’t seen each other in over a year will travel together,” he says. “This increases visitation to our area by magnitude, because now, instead of just a couple coming to visit, they are also bringing parents, grandparents, etc. That definitely contributes to an overall increase in tourism.”
Yax says there is also still a strong interest in driving destinations. “People are still willing to drive a little farther than before. Air travel is significantly picking up, but still, people are willing to drive.” He adds, “It goes without saying that destinations that have an abundance of outdoor recreation possibilities and resources are preferred among a lot of travelers.”
Braun agrees that at Wanderlust — which is based in Bend and offers a variety of half-day naturalist-guided tours, trips and activities year-round in Bend, Sunriver and Sisters — family groups traveling together is trending. “Over the past couple of months and through COVID, we’ve seen an increase in the number of multiple family groups traveling together,” she says. “Larger groups are signing up for tours. We have been doing this more often over the past couple of months than previously. It’s like a family picks another family as their pod, and then they travel together. They book a private tour just within their pod to keep it within the family, so to speak.”
Braun says that with the increase in visitors to our area, the focus at Wanderlust — in addition to the traditional natural- and cultural-interpretation-style tours they conduct — is responsible recreation. “It’s an opportunity to educate our guests when they are in these beautiful places they come to see in Central Oregon to focus on going above and beyond to do their part to keep these spaces clean, and to recreate in them responsibly so that everyone can enjoy them.”
Ongoing Challenges and Lessons Learned
Despite the current steady stream of business, recreation and tour companies are still facing certain challenges, including the process of recouping financially, dealing with traveler uncertainty and a forecasted big fire season. “Compared to last year, business is booming. Last year at this time, we thought we might not make it, but with support from PPP loans, EIDL, Travel Oregon grants, a COIC grant and paid leave for employees who couldn’t work because of COVID exposure, we not only survived but came out stronger,” says Stryker. However, she says that Cog Wild now has an updated cancellation policy in which they keep a non-refundable 25 percent for bookings that cancel. “We learned the hard way last year. We were able to buy a new van and invest in a bike fleet (ordered last fall, but bikes are still trickling in). We’ve increased our prices and our pay rates for guides, coaches, drivers and office staff. We’re on par with non-2020 years in terms of regular business, but, it’s still early in our season, and a big fire season could change our status.”
Yax says they are seeing a lot of people booking trips and making reservations with much shorter lead time than in the past, which is challenging for recreation and tourism companies. “People are making last-minute decisions, not just about when they are going to travel, but where. That creates challenges for providers, hoteliers, restaurants, etc. It’s difficult to forecast business levels and makes it hard to staff accurately. The last-minute choices are due to customers’ own re-entry into travel, and their own hesitations: One week they may feel unprepared to travel, but then feel ready a week later.” He adds, “There continues to be some uncertainly in terms of level of comfort. But it has relaxed to the point that once they are ready to go, they want to go now.”
Because we in Central Oregon are seeing greater visitation from a tourism standpoint, and because we all are still highly interested in spending time in the outdoors and open environments, Yax says now is a good time to go out and try a new thing, such as a lesser-known trail, or a ride somewhere that isn’t so heavily traveled by visitors. “It’s a great time to find some off-the-beaten-path places to help lessen the impact on the heavily trafficked trails,” he says, adding that the new trail permit system requiring advanced reservations for a number of local trails that took effect in Central Oregon this season will help enforce this. “The new permit system is going to sneak up on lots of people, particularly locals,” he says. “I know there are lots of local trails that I probably won’t touch until fall because of it. Last-minute travel decisions will collide with the new permit system.”
Staffing Hurdles
“Staffing is our biggest issue this year. We are having a hard time finding hard-working and committed individuals to drive, coach, guide or work in the office,” says Stryker. “Emotional support of employees has been a big one this year. We had a couple of employees who were promising, but totally flaked out emotionally and couldn’t handle the stress of the business.” She adds, “In my opinion, this job isn’t stressful since all we do is take people mountain biking! We’ve been trying to give more work to the folks currently employed, but folks have boundaries and only want to work part time, not full time. Also, the seasonal nature of the business makes it challenging to find full-time seasonal help. We lost highly trained, longtime staff to full-time, year-round jobs due to the pandemic.”
Yax agrees that staffing is a concern they are hearing about within the DVA clients. “All you have to do is drive around town. Everybody has a help wanted sign out,” he says. “Tourism and service industries have been among the hardest hit. This is due to programs like what the state is doing with unemployment benefits: Typically, you are required to be actively looking for employment; but you are not required to do that right now. This dis-incentivizes people. As the unemployment situation dries up and goes away, there will be a return to the workforce. But that doesn’t help with immediate need for staffing.” To offset the staffing shortage, Yax says businesses are having to increase the hourly rate of pay and offer upfront cash-signing bonuses. “Ultimately, those expenses will get passed on to the consumer. If you have to pay $4 per hour more, or pay a $1,000 hiring bonus, that means that the cost of that meal the tourist eats will likely increase as a result.”
At Wanderlust, Braun says they feel really lucky. “We hired a couple of new guides and had lots of staff return. We are staffed up and ready to go. Many of our partners and compatriots are struggling, but we have who we need and it’s a really great group of people to go forward with into the summer. We feel fortunate.”
Ongoing Protocols
Although Oregon is mostly opened back up, companies are continuing to take stringent safety measures to keep it that way. “Travel Oregon gave us nearly 8K to create a COVID-appropriate visitor experience,” says Stryker. “The funds are being used to pay for porta potties, hand-wash stations, signage and seating for our Bend and Oakridge locations.” She continues, “The majority of our work is outside, so we no longer require masks outside. But, since we put people into vans, we still follow public transit guidelines and ask people to mask up while in the van, whether they are vaccinated or not. We’re handing out way more disposable masks now than we did in the past year. We’re still doing lots of pre-packaged snacks instead of shared snacks, and we are still staying physically distant.”
Braun says that at Wanderlust, they are also still taking extra steps in cleaning gear and vans, making sure everything is sanitized and cleaned between each use. “We are still requiring masks in closed spaces or indoors. In the outdoors, we allow de-masking as people feel comfortable.”
Yax says there is still some ambiguity or interpretation confusion where COVID protocols are concerned. “People don’t fully understand the current regulations. What’s important is that a lot of businesses are continuing to maintain safety protocols at their own discretion, even when they don’t have to. That may change when we hit 70 percent vaccination rate.” Another big challenge, he says, is that when we were at the height of the pandemic, everyone was following the same rules and protocols, but now, we are at a point where it’s different from business to business. “Some still have face-covering requirements; but lots of people aren’t wearing them. The inconsistency is to no fault of the individual businesses, but there is confusion in the consumer’s mind about when and where they should or should not wear a mask, even if they are vaccinated.” He adds, “It’s interesting to me that when I wear a mask, I wonder if people assume I’m not vaccinated. I have yet to be asked for proof of vaccination.”
Though nothing is certain as to what the future holds, most recreation and travel business owners are breathing a collective sigh of relief that this summer feels so much better than last year did. “Our clients have been so kind and supportive; we have seen so many return clients who give us positive feedback and five-star reviews on Google and Trip Advisor,” says Stryker. “We love our clients and our staff, and are so stoked that our business survived the pandemic.”
