Summer tourism flops for Swift-less Portland; Seattle enjoys ‘really good’ year

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Portland City Council unanimously voted not to sunset the city’s 1% “Tourism and Hospitality Recovery” tax first imposed on hotel room bookings in 2021 to fund the post-pandemic recovery of Portland’s travel and tourism industry.

The decision was made after recent economic data showed that Portland’s tourism industry “flatlined” for the second consecutive summer compared to cities like Seattle, which enjoyed a financial boost from the summer's Taylor Swift concert, Travel Portland President Jeff Miller told the council during a Dec. 13 presentation.

“Travel Portland began our budget process in the early-to-mid part of 2022 and anticipated a 17% increase, which would have been 90% of the 2019 peak year,” Miller said. “We are looking at somewhere between no recovery and 4% revenue decline.”

According to economic data commissioned by Travel Portland, the city saw a 19% increase in travel revenue during the winter and spring of 2023. However, those numbers completely dropped off by summer, with a -1% decline in revenue during the summer and fall months.

“Summer tourism did not happen,” Miller said.

Competing cities like Seattle, Denver and Salt Lake City, meanwhile, saw 12 to 15% higher hotel occupancy rates in 2023, which indicates a “really good” tourism year, Miller said. When asked by Commissioner Mingus Mapps why Portland’s summer tourism season was so much worse than Seattle’s, even though the cities share many of the same social and economic issues, Miller attributed Seattle’s success to cruise ships, professional sports and Taylor Swift.

“In previous years, Seattle had three cruise lines going to Alaska, this summer they had five,” Miller said. “They’ve opened up a second convention center, which is huge. They have baseball, professional sports really are a huge draw … and they had Taylor Swift.”

The Washington Post reports that Swift’s 2023 Eras Tour added $5.7 billion to the U.S. economy. In Seattle, the tour broke the single-day revenue record for the city’s downtown hotels.