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Concertgoers watch Death Cab for Cutie perform at Les Schwab Amphitheater during last year’s Memorial Day concert series. While economic pressures prevented the concerts’ promoter from booking shows for this year’s holiday weekend, Visit Bend hopes its new program will help attract major events such as concerts at the amphitheater.
The Bulletin file photo
Keeping the scene alive
Visit Bend tries new idea to help attract events, conferences
By Jeff McDonald / The Bulletin
Published: April 29. 2009 4:00AM PSTBend’s tourism-promotion agency aims to put money it raises through advertising and Web-based sales back into a pot that would be used to bring more conference and event business to town, the visitor bureau’s top official said Tuesday.
The program, which is being called the Bend Visitor Development Fund, has two components, said Doug La Placa, the president and CEO of Visit Bend.
Businesses who buy an ad on the bureau’s Web site, www.visitbend.com, or buy a print advertisement in the visitor bureau’s annual visitor guide will contribute to a pool of money that will be used to attract major events, concerts, festivals, conferences and conventions to Bend, he said.
“At the end of the day, it takes money to close some of the deals and make your destination competitive,” La Placa said.
Bend’s visitor industry, already hurt by lagging leisure travel, hopes to bolster its bottom line by attracting more group and event business, La Placa said. The city of Bend’s room-tax collections for February, the latest month for which data are available, fell 23.1 percent, the third consecutive month of double-digit, year-over-year decreases in the amount of money the city collects from overnight lodging visitors.
Attracting conference business, which is less volatile than leisure travel because companies book further in advance than weekend travelers, is getting more difficult due to the challenging economy, said Rocky Adrianson, hotel and conference center manager at The Riverhouse Hotel & Convention Center, one of the largest conference centers in the state.
While leisure travel has declined substantially, group and conference business has picked up the slack this spring, Adrianson said. That means a lot of the state’s conference centers are competing more heavily to attract large groups, he said.
“Conference planners are sharpening their teeth to get as much funding to get them here,” Adrianson said. “Some are asking for ‘x’ amount of complementary rooms. There are always some amount of concessions that go on. I could see where those funds would come into play.”
La Placa hopes ad and Web revenues totaling between $30,000 and $50,000 annually will help the agency lure conferences that benefit the entire tourism community, he said.
In the past, Visit Bend and other partners contributed $30,000 to lure the USA Cycling Road Racing National Championships to Bend for summer 2009 and 2010. The six-day event will host approximately 3,000 people and generate an estimated $3.5 million in economic impact, according to Visit Bend.
Most of the $30,000 came out of Visit Bend’s operating budget.
“Companies who have a stake in tourism don’t have an outlet through which they can support tourism,” he said. “This would give them an immediate benefit.”
The visitor development fund could help bolster concert-recruitment efforts at Les Schwab Amphitheater, which is down about one-third in its summertime concert bookings from last year, said Bill Smith, developer of The Old Mill District.
“I don’t know if it will help the amphitheater much, but it will help The Old Mill District because when people visit Bend, they tend to eat out and shop,” Smith said. “Tourism is an integral part of what makes the Old Mill work. Without tourism, we would not be here.”
Since summertime concerts began at the amphitheater, the promoter of the concerts, Portland-based Monqui Presents, has guaranteed musicians a minimum amount of money in case ticket sales fall short of expectations, Smith said.
This year, the company pulled back on signing Memorial Day weekend concerts at the amphitheater due to the economy, among other reasons, Smith said.
“You will have a better chance of getting more concerts,” said Smith, who noted he has not seen the specifics of the program. “The fund could potentially help secure more events.”
Monqui Presents could not be reached for comment.
Jeff McDonald can be reached at 541-383-0323 or at jmcdonald@bendbulletin.com.
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