Visit Bend to resume measured summer marketing, keep grant funding levels and refocus on group sales

Jeff Knapp, chief executive officer of Visit Bend, and Nate Wyeth, senior vice president, presented Visit Bend’s high-level budget and strategic priorities to the advisory board, emphasizing stewardship of room-tax revenue, grant programs and a renewed, targeted summer marketing push.

“We are a private nonprofit 501(c)(6),” Knapp said, describing Visit Bend’s role as a contracted steward of a portion of transient room taxes. Knapp and Wyeth said Visit Bend currently stewards about 35.4% of the city’s transient room tax revenue and reinvests that funding in marketing, destination stewardship grants and research.

The organization said it will hold grant funding levels steady for the coming year. Wyeth reported that Visit Bend awarded $561,832 in destination stewardship grants in the past year and that the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund distributed about $300,000 last year; since 2015 those cultural grants have totaled roughly $2.5 million.

Summer marketing and resident sentiment

Visit Bend said it will reintroduce limited, strategic summer marketing after pausing multi-year summer campaigns due to crowding and wildfire/smoke concerns. The DMO plans midweek and value-based marketing aimed at underrepresented audiences and will coordinate messaging with the city on public-safety and wildfire communications. “It’s around 8,000%,” Nate Wyeth said when asked about the return on investment reported for Visit Bend’s influencer marketing efforts.

Wyeth said resident sentiment toward tourism is shifting: in recent surveys more residents say the benefits of tourism outweigh the costs compared with earlier years, although a significant minority still see costs as greater than benefits. He said awareness of the tourism tax remains low among residents and Visit Bend will work to increase awareness along with showing concrete projects funded by visitor dollars.

Group sales, accessibility and stewardship

The presentation outlined a renewed push for group business (conferences, corporate retreats and select sporting events) as a more reliable source of occupancy and room-tax revenue. Visit Bend reported generating organic leads that previously translated into roughly 9,000 room nights and said the DMO will invest further in group sales and in a feasibility study on conference and events capacity.

Visit Bend also highlighted investments in accessibility and inclusion, noting partnerships with Oregon Adaptive Sports and other groups and saying Bend’s web presence ranks highly for accessibility. The organization described its destination stewardship grants as aimed at cultural projects, accessibility improvements and seasonal-event support.

Budget posture and next steps

Visit Bend said it is budgeting conservatively with near-flat revenue assumptions for the coming year, holding grant programs at current levels and adding internal staff capacity for PR and marketing functions. The DMO expects to return to the advisory board and city council with a more detailed budget and recommended contract adjustments in June.