Jaime Eder is director of Workforce Development and Community Engagement at Visit Central Oregon and Visit Bend.

Someone unfamiliar with the tourism industry may not understand the positive benefits that tourism has on the local community.

In Central Oregon, organizations like Visit Central Oregon and Visit Bend actually help make the destination a more sustainable place for visitors and locals alike.

To better understand how, it is important to provide a brief background of tourism promotion in Oregon.

Nearly 20 years ago, the Legislature established a 1% statewide transient room tax (TRT) to fund Travel Oregon’s marketing efforts. The statewide transient room tax is 1.5%. In recent years, legislation broadened the use of TRT beyond marketing and dedicated 30% of the funding received by Travel Oregon to be invested back into communities through regional destination management organizations (RDMOs) and a competitive grant program.

Visit Central Oregon is a regional destination management organization that leverages state and Deschutes County transient room tax from the unincorporated parts of the county. At the local level, Visit Bend is also funded by TRT generated from the city of Bend’s 10.4% room tax.

However, roughly 70% of the city and county room tax collected is spent at the discretion of the municipality, and often is used to fund public safety (fire, police, search and rescue) and infrastructure — money that is paid by visitors and not resident taxpayers.

Especially in popular destinations, tourism offices like Visit Central Oregon and Visit Bend do not seek to actively maximize the number of visitors that come to eat, stay and play here.

Instead, they optimize visitation. Simply put, both organizations work to disperse visitors to more remote, lesser-traveled parts of the region, increase visitation in the shoulder seasons to create year-round economic benefit, and communicate to visitors (and locals) ways to protect and preserve the places they go.

Additionally, these organizations reinvest dollars back into the local community through strategic partnerships — like regional air service development — and grant programs.

In 2013, Visit Bend worked to pass a ballot measure directing 7.5% to 10% of its annual public funding to the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund — a grant program dedicated to enhancing Bend’s economy through cultural tourism. Since 2015, the BCTF has awarded nearly $1.5 million in grants to projects ranging from BendFilm, High Desert Museum to Winter Pride Fest.

Two years ago, as a way to support projects that help sustain the long-term livability of Bend and its neighboring communities, Visit Bend created the Bend Sustainability Fund. Since its inception, the sustainability fund has supported 17 projects with more than $2 million in funding — recipients include Central Oregon Trail Alliance, Warm Springs Community Action Team, Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and U.S. Forest Service.

Through a partnership with Travel Oregon, Visit Central Oregon has invested nearly $775,000 in grants and other strategic investments over the past five years.

The funding has benefited a wide range of projects from special events, to arts and culture and stewardship programs.

The list of beneficiaries includes Discover Your Forest, Central Oregon Trail Alliance, Museum at Warm Springs, Sunriver Music Festival, among others. And, on Jan. 16, the organization opened the Central Oregon Future Fund, a new $840,000 grant program to support projects that focus on sustainability, accessibility and cultural tourism.

By reinvesting TRT, Visit Central Oregon and Visit Bend positively impact the community and local tourism businesses and attractions that make up the fabric of Central Oregon’s tourism economy.

There is no denying that tourism is thriving in Central Oregon. Programs like the BCTF, Bend Sustainability Fund and the Central Oregon Future Fund leverage this success with funds that are paid for by visitors, but ultimately benefit everyone — visitors and locals — and help make the high desert the amazing place it is to live.