Welcome Centers End of Season Update
Oregon’s Welcome Centers wrapped up the travel season at the end of October. It was a great year, with increases in visitation and steady growth reported.

As of November 1, 2006 combined visitation at all nine centers was nearly 300,000 visitors, with an average increase of 8.5% over last year. The temporary Welcome Center at Ashland saw a marked increase with 17% more visitors this year than last year. Four of the state’s nine centers remain open year-round, and will continue to collect visitor counts for 2006.

The annual Welcome Centers “end of the season” meeting was held in Bend in partnership with Travel Oregon. Staff and volunteers from all the Welcome Centers attended to share info about the year, and to learn about plans for next year. In 2007, Travel Oregon will be supplying new computers to all the centers, as well as name tags, business cards and vests for staff.

Two new and exciting Welcome Centers are in the works: TIC and Travel Oregon are working with ODOT to set up a new, permanent Welcome Center in the new rest area to be constructed on I-5 near Ashland in 2008. Also, a Welcome Center located in Portland International Airport is penciled for January, 2007.

Last, the dates for the 2007 Welcome Center Training Conference and FAM tour were announced. The conference will be held in Jacksonville, March 3 through 6. All Welcome Center staff and volunteers, as well as staff from Visitor Centers managed by CVBs and Chambers of Commerce are welcome to attend this annual training conference. Many thanks to the community of Jacksonville for supporting this training conference!

To learn more about Oregon's Welcome Centers and the upcoming training conference, please visit http://www.oregontic.com/sales/welcome-centers.php