November 5, 2021
OREGON SOUTH COAST REGIONAL TOURISM NETWORK
SOUTHERN OREGON COAST FALL CAMPAIGN DELIVERS STRONG PERFORMANCE

TSOC ran a 4-week travel inspiration campaign in September to drive fall and winter visitation to the South Coast. "There's No Place Like the Southern Oregon Coast," campaign featured digital display and video ads on targeted websites and YouTube, and animated social media ads on Facebook and Instagram. The campaign delivered 3.75 million impressions and 378k video views, with an 84% video completion rate. Click-through rates (CTR) were exceptionally high for the co-op ads featuring 8 partners at .53%, and above industry standards at 0.24% for the main campaign, both CTRs beat the industry benchmark of 0.15%-0.23% CTR. 95% of contest entries were new contacts, helping build our database with hand-raisers who were not previously in our marketing funnel. 

Thank you to our many contest partners and to our co-op partners who participated in our campaign: Brookings, Reedsport/Winchester Bay, Gold Beach, Coos Bay/North Bend, OCVA, Bandon, Wild Rivers Coast Food Trail, and Port Orford.

Here are some wonderful comments we received during the campaign:
  • "We were here a couple of months back during a low tide. Starfish everywhere you looked." Garry Reed (Gold Beach Ad)

  • "In 2001, after the Twin Tower's attack ended our plans to travel, across the US, my hubby & I toured all the lighthouses on the Beautiful Oregon Coast. Such an interesting trip. Learned SO MUCH, about Oregon HISTORY. I wouldn't trade THOSE Memories, for any other trip❗🙏❤💖💞" Joan Leith (Lighthouse ad)

  • "The 101 through Oregon is littered with hikes, state parks, beaches, wildlife refuges, lagoons, rivers, and forests. You could spend months just exploring the coast and still not see everything." Daniel Baker (Hiking/waterfall ad)

  • "Love the Oregon coast, can't wait to drive it again." Mark Fontaine (Lighthouse ad)

  • "I rode it on my fat bike which has no suspension, was fun and challenging at the same time. 🙂👍🚴" Danny Leberger (Whiskey Run ad)
MEET OUR NEW TSOC RARE TEAM MEMBER, ANNIE WILLIAMS

Annie was born and raised in La Grande, Oregon, and grew up hiking, swimming, and skiing in the Blue Mountains of Northeastern Oregon. She completed her Bachelor’s of Landscape Architecture with a minor in Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon in 2021. For her capstone project, she worked with locals from her hometown community to design a farm school for at-risk youth incorporating concepts of trauma-informed care and agricultural education. She enjoys creating accessible and equitable outdoor spaces and is excited to see how her background in landscape can be applied towards sustainable tourism in one of her favorite regions in Oregon.

As a destination development coordinator, Annie will be working with TSOC to implement various projects related to enhancing sustainable tourism on the Southern Coast. She will be engaged closely with the outdoor recreational destinations of the region, specifically its kayaking, mountain biking, and hiking assets. She will be working on projects to bolster and improve the visitor infrastructure including supporting the implementation of several ADA kayak launches. She will also help market the region to potential visitors by supporting TSOC’s social media content as well as helping to develop graphics. All the while, she will be exploring the region’s communities for landscape improvement opportunities and intends to work closely with locals wherever possible to develop conceptual designs that align with their community’s culture and needs.
NEW ALLIED PARTNER KIT FROM WORKSOURCE OREGON

The industry continues to experience many challenges, including workforce shortages and supply chain issues. We are seeing restaurants needing to limit hours and hotels continue to restrict rooms available and/or housekeeping services. Please consider spreading the word about Worksource Oregon, a network of public and private partners who work together to stimulate job growth by connecting businesses and workers. Their resources include job boards, hiring fairs, and candidate screening. They may also be able to access wrap-around services that include housing and transportation vouchers, training support, and counseling. These services are provided at no cost to employers and employees.

We are nearing the close of the busy season for many of our restaurant and lodging operations and are finally wrapping up one of the most packed summer event schedules that I have experienced in my five years on staff at ORLA. We had 45+ vendors join us for the Hospitality Conference, 18 vendors sponsor a bay and host the industry at Play it Fore-Ward for Hospitality, and experienced a sold-out course for the ORLA Open Golf Tournament in late July. Our team is incredibly proud that despite the challenges of recent months, we sustained many opportunities for the industry and our partners to safely gather for some much-anticipated networking, education, and connectedness.

Don’t miss out next year! We just released our Allied Partner Media Kit for 2022, and you can learn more by visiting our website! New opportunities for next year include:
  • Donor opportunities for the industry's non-profit, the Oregon Hospitality Foundation (page 14)
  • One Big Night returns to Portland on June 7 (page 9)
  • New digital email advertising packages (page 5)
YOU CAN GIVE FEEDBACK ON THE NEW TEMPORARILY AVAILABLE RULE

The State of Oregon Employment Department has scheduled listening sessions on the temporary availability Rule
Starting October 20, you can listen and give feedback on the new temporary availability rule before any changes are made permanent.

The Employment Department has scheduled three listening sessions for employers to give feedback on the new temporary availability rule before any changes are made to the permanent availability rule.

Under the new rule, if your employees have barriers preventing them from returning to work, they may still be eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits if they're willing to seek an alternate type of work for which they are available at least one shift per day and 40 hours per week. 

Simultaneous interpretation will be available in Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, and Cantonese. Register now for one of our upcoming listening sessions at unemployment.oregon.gov.

Listening Sessions for Employers:
  • October 20, 2021 from 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.: Register
  • November 3, 2021 from 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.: Register
  • November 17, 2021 from 9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.: Register
UPCOMING GRANT DEADLINES


PHOTO CREDITS: Hiking in Bandon via Lookout Media, Worksource Oregon logo via Worksource Oregon, Housing by Tom Rumble, "We hear you" banner by Jon Tyson