Portland on Track for Busiest Summer Tourism Season in Years

The signals are already starting, that Portland’s about to get its busiest summer tourism season in years.  It’s a sign of the economic recovery from the pandemic.

 The Waterfront Blues Festival, is coming back.  

 So is the Nascar Xfinity Series. The Rose Festival’s attracting visitors.

 After a couple years of pandemic hold the floodgates of tourists are unleashing, says Marcus Hibdon with Travel Portland.  He tells our news partner KGW that demand for hotel rooms  is up almost 105%.  “Hotel revenue is up almost 160% from January through April,” he said.  “We think it’s probably going to be another couple of years until we hit those record-breaking levels we did in 2018 and 2019, but time will tell. The pandemic seems to be loosening up, which has been great.”

At the restaurant Cheryl’s on 12th in downtown Portland, owner Cheryl Casey depends on tourism, and welcomes the change she’s seeing, with lots of out of town visitors over the Memorial Day weekend.  “We really need the summer. That’s where a lot of our business comes from and it helps us get through the winter, the slower times,” Casey said. “We had a great weekend this past Memorial Day. It was very busy.”