New Portland Visitors Center set to open this summer

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - With summer right around the corner, Portland is expecting a busy travel season over these next few months.

To help those visiting, Travel Portland is reopening its Portland Visitors Center for the first time since it closed for the pandemic.

On Tuesday, people gathered for a preview event at the new location at 1132 Harvey Milk Street.

“You can see there are a lot of people representing hotels, the travel and tourism industry, the restaurant industry and everybody is excited for what we think is going to happen this summer regarding tourism in Portland,” said Mayor Ted Wheeler. “We are already seeing signs of a Renaissance here in downtown Portland. We are seeing more visitors. If you come down here on a Friday or Saturday night it’s absolutely packed.”

When it opens on June 29, it will be open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Thursday – Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

“We did a lot of research and we wanted to be where visitors are,” said Jeff Miller, the CEO & President of Travel Portland. “Being in this location, we are steps away from Powell’s Books, which is a major attraction. We are close to Pioneer Courthouse Square, we are close to a lot of hotels. We are excited to be in the West End.”

Officials say this opening marks a significant milestone on the city’s path of recovery and hope this new spot in the West End will help those visiting this summer and beyond.

In 2022, tourism in the region brought in more than $5 billion and supported over 32,000 jobs. While numbers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, Travel Portland is optimistic for the next few years.

“We are already seeing visitor numbers climb, we are seeing hotels fill up, so this summer is going to be a good one. Lots of events going on too,” said Miller.

His recommendation for those visiting Portland?

“Find a food cart. You can go to our app to our food cart finder. Go into our retail stores; there’s a lot of ‘only in Portland’ kind of things to do here.”

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