Oregon Public Broadcasting

The auto industry group AAA has officially announced that the average gas price in Oregon is under $2. It’ll set you back $1.92 for a gallon of regular unleaded.

That’s the lowest price in three years, and is being greeted by drivers with honks of appreciation. It’s also being welcomed by the state’s tourism industry. Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports.

Oregon is a very car-centric tourist destination. There’s no Disney World to fly in to, and population centers in Seattle and Northern California can drive here relatively easily.

In fact, the state’s most talked-about destinations are almost all off-the-beaten path – meaning a car is needed to get there.

Think Ashland in the South, Bandon and Astoria on the coast, and Bend and Hood River in the interior. 

Hood River is a very seasonal destination – visitors come in the winter to ski at Mt Hood, and come in the summer to windsurf or kiteboard.

Pepi Gerald is the co-owner of 2nd Wind Sports, an equipment dealer, in Hood River. He says the wind doesn’t just affect how much money he makes – it affects his operating hours, and his employees.

Pepi Gerald: “Yeah, sometimes we have what’s called the wind clause. So, if it’s blowing over 20 knots, then you are cut loose. But it depends whether your boss wants to windsurf or not – or whether the staff deserve to, or not. It’s better to have a happy staff than a staff that’s just going bonkers in the shop.”

Gerald says he has felt the recession. He says in the spring and summer, when there was really good wind and weather for windsurfing tourists, he saw slow sales.

Hotels and restaurants say they felt it too.

Pepi Gerald: “I’ve talked to a couple of other shops in town, we have a good relationship, so we’ve been pretty happy. All summer we’ve felt like we’re in a really tight situation. But if we compare some of our numbers with what others are doing, we’re supposed to be pretty happy. Everybody says 10-percent down is the new flat. And we’re kind of in that middle-flat to middle area. It's hard to appreciate it, but I guess you need to appreciate it now.”

Tax revenues and other tourism profit slowed across the state over the summer. In Bend, hotel taxes were down 8-to-10 percent in September and October. Other cities with similar taxes say they've seen the same thing.

But Gerald says that’s the bad news. The good news is that he has seen sales head upward recently, he thinks because of the plummeting price of gas.

Todd Davidson is the CEO of Travel Oregon, the marketing name of the government-funded Oregon Tourism Commission.

He sits in the plush tea room at the Heathman Hotel, in downtown Portland. Only one other table is occupied, on this weekday.

Davidson says a recession and high gas prices remind him of another time when tourism all but dried up.

In the first few months after September 11th, 2001, Davidson says plane flights were empty and hotel beds slept no guests.

Then, as consumer confidence turned around, things changed, and quickly.

Todd Davidson: “But the end result was that there was all this pent-up demand to travel. So, the realization for those of us in the travel industry was that Americans see travel as sort of a fundamental freedom. We want to travel whenever and wherever we travel. So something like this economic situation tends to affect how we travel, not if we travel.”

Davidson looks around at the high-end digs at the Heathman, recently named one of the 500 best hotels in the world.

Todd Davidson: “For example, if you wanted to come and stay at the Heathman Hotel, you might postpone your trip by a couple of weeks, to see if there was a rate change. You may, go out and grab a sandwich at one of the nearby delis instead of ordering room service for you and your spouse or partner while you are here in the hotel.”

And that’s why gas prices could be the state’s saving grace.

West Coast travelers could decide they still want to travel, but they can’t fly to Europe or the East Coast. But low prices at the pump could get them to look at a longer drive ... to ... say ... Oregon.

Pepi Gerald with 2nd Wind Sports says that’d be good. He's also hoping the skiers from Portland and Hood River decide to  stick around this winter.

Pepi Gerald: “Our local customers are probably going to stay local. Trips for them would be driving up to Whistler B-C or going up to the B.C. interior to do heli-skiing or snowcatting, and that’s probably going to be out of their financial realm at this moment. So, I think when Christmas comes along that may be when we see if gas prices affect us or not, after the ski areas open.”

Gerald says his balance at the end of the season will depend on the economy, gas prices, and, oh yeah, snow.