Page 7 - Rural Tourism Report Washington County
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CHAPTER 1: KEY FINDINGS
Rural Tourism
The beauty of rural Washington County, its bounty • Based on consultant meetings with rural
of local farms, and its charming small communities tourism operators and industry professionals:
make it attractive to visitors. Increasingly, farms, » Incubators of the County’s existing
wineries, and other rural operations capitalize on rural tourism sector include a strong
this by offering products/experiences directly from agricultural sector with a diverse product
their properties – rural tourism. Rural tourism mix; relatively short travel times from
may generate conflicts with agricultural practices, Portland metro urban areas; growing
but also brings new revenue to farms and rural interest in local food production, culinary
areas. As such, rural tourism planning must occur experiences, and wine culture; scenic
thoughtfully, in communication with agriculture and landscapes and diverse recreational
rural tourism interests and the broader community. opportunities; and cultural and agricultural
histories;
Chapter 3 of this report, The Washington County
Rural Tourism Sector, explores rural tourism » Most support adoption of standards to allow
offerings in the County, models from elsewhere, rural activities/events, with restrictions;
and insights from various rural tourism interests. » Those hosting events encourage
See Chapter 3 for more detail. communications with neighbors, distance
between events and nearby homes, and
Of Note: discontinuing music at a reasonable hour;
• Based on examples from successful tourism » Suggestions in support of rural tourism
programs elsewhere, the most effective rural include expansion of motorist and bicycle
tourism policies support farm diversification and routes, water access, and lodging;and
rural economic development while protecting
farmland. Public/private initiatives are often » Some current and potential owners of rural
central components. lodging voiced a concern about profitability as
impacted by regulatory guest limits.
• 2014 saw the most growth in Oregon’s • Lodging options appear to play a role in
travel industry since the recent recession. overall rural tourism viability.
Washington County provided more overnight
accommodation than did Clackamas or Yamhill • Today, there are a number of rural
counties (7.6 million room nights) . tourism offerings distributed through rural
4
Washington County, their density decreasing
• Rural Oregon’s largest export-oriented
industries are travel, agriculture/food with distance from urban areas. (See map in
production, and logging/wood products . Figure 3.3).
5
4 Runyan, Dean. “Oregon Travel Impacts 1991-2014p.” pdf. April 2015. Page 63,199 and 202. http.www.deanrunyan.com_library/ORlmp.pdf
5 Runyan, Dean. “Oregon Travel Impacts 1991-2014p.” pdf. April 2015. Page 6. http.www.deanrunyan.com_library/ORlmp.pdf
WASHINGTON COUNTY RURAL TOURISM STUDY 3
