Imagine throwing a huge party with all the best food, all the best drinks and all the best decorations and music, but neglecting to produce enough tables and chairs for all your guests? All your hard work could be undone by not focusing on the basics.
In some ways, hosting events and sporting contests in Lane County is like that.
Great facilities and great venues, but not enough of the related infrastructure like adequate hotel capacity and other amenities to accommodate visitors when they get here.
That’s the challenge that Samara Phelps, the fairly new CEO of Travel Lane County, and her team are focusing on as they work on the organization’s Destination Master Plan.
“We are great at bringing visitors here,” Phelps told me on a recent edition of my KLCC show, Oregon On The Record. “But we need to invest heavily in infrastructure to better accommodate those visitors when they get here.”
That is a big part of this Master Plan. It’s figuring out a way to holistically bring visitors to the community and ensure their experience once they get here is optimal.
According to Travel Lane County: “The Destination Master Plan creates a clearly defined long-term vision for the visitor economy, with an agreed understanding of what success looks like. Unlike organizational strategic plans, this plan focuses on the destination itself – identifying opportunities to develop or enhance experiences and infrastructure while building stronger alignment between the visitor economy, economic development and community well-being.”
Phelps is uniquely positioned to lead this effort. While she has helped other visitor organizations in other markets, she is from Eugene and understands the pluses and minuses to the community and its ability to continue to attract visitors.
“I’m a boomerang,” she told me. “I was born and raised here and left to do similar work up in Clackamas County. I’m a big believer of power of place and wanted to get back to it, here in Lane County.”
Another illustrative for Phelps’ goals could be that of a restaurateur, who takes over an already popular eatery. “I was hired to keep the good stuff going and also improve,” she explains. “And this Destination Master Plan fits with that, and we’ll be asking questions to refine our goals and strategies and a big part of that is always understanding that a good place to live is a good place to visit.”
Travel Lane County recently announced that it has hired a consultant group that has vast experience with travel organizations. The firm, JLL’s Tourism Advisory Group, will help Travel Lane County develop a 10-year Destination Master Plan for all of Lane County. The organization has provided strategic planning for more than 100 travel-based organizations around the world.
One of the benefits of the Master Plan is that even though it is being commissioned by Travel Lane County, the data and findings will be available to other organizations throughout the region.
“We know that chambers of commerce and other organizations want to know more about ways we can enhance the region as a travel destination,” and we are going to be happy to share.”
One aspect of Lane County that Phelps and team already know they want to improve is to transition as a more robust year-round destination. While summer is often overutilized due to the region’s great weather, peerless track season, and world-class beaches and wilderness, winter can lag far behind.
Therefore, a good deal of planning and strategies that could come from the Master Plan include convention and visitor trade during the winter months, and also a long sought-after facility that could make TrackTown a year-round destination.
“We’ve long known that an indoor track facility would be a game-changer in our market,” Phelps said. “Such an amenity would bring in thousands of fans and athletes in the slower times of the year while adhering to our region’s signature brand.”
As the research and drafting of the Master Plan evolve, Travel Lane County will be actively seeking public input throughout 2025 and 2026. For more details, go to: Eugenecascadescoast.org
