[OMS_MANAGERS] Travel Oregon Announces 2025 Travel & Tourism Industry Achievement Awards

Wed Mar 11 11:28:58 PDT 2026

Incredible!  Wow! What an honor. 

Joni Kabana 
Spray Ambassador, Oregon Frontier Chamber of Commerce 
Serving Gilliam, Sherman and Wheeler Counties
www.oregonfrontierchamber.com 

> On Mar 11, 2026, at 9:22 AM, HENRY Katie * OPRD <Katie.HENRY at oprd.oregon.gov> wrote:
> 
> Hello OMS folks! 
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> We have some big news! On Monday, Oregon Main Street was honored during the 2025 Travel & Tourism Industry Achievement Awards with the Prosperity Award. The awards event was part of the 2026 Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism coordinated by Travel Oregon. 
>  
> I was so honored to accept the award as a representative of Oregon Heritage, but really, the whole network should have been on stage. This award is a testament to the impact all of your work has on making your communities welcoming to visitors and the many ways in which you support local businesses and make your downtown a place residents and visitors want to visit, experience, and enjoy. This work matters, there is just no way around that, and it was great to see it recognized by Travel Oregon and the tourism industry leaders and network in Oregon.  
>  
> A big thank you to the Main Street folks attending the conference and helped fill the table we unexpectedly had and a GIANT thank you to Stephanie who I dragged on stage with me as I know she has been hard at work promoting the 2027 OMS conference in North Bend.  
>  
> Below is the Travel Oregon announcement but you can view the video directly here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUlcQnksBu8&list=PL5ORWChxC6rxBQfCogYOYs8IVoNBMJTAU&index=3&pp=iAQB
>  
> Thank you for all you do, thank you to Ami for joining the team/family to help continue this awesome work, and YAY Oregon Main Street!
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> Katie
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> <image001.jpg>
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> Katie Henry (she, her, hers) |  Oregon Heritage Commission Coordinator
> ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> Oregon Heritage, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
> Oregon Heritage Commission
> Cell: (503) 877-8834
> 725 Summer St NE, Ste C
> Salem, Oregon 97301
>  
> Visit our website <http://www.oregonheritage.org/>, Like us on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/OregonHeritage>, Visit our Blog <http://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/>, Join the Oregon Heritage News e-news <https://omls.oregon.gov/mailman/listinfo/Heritage>.
> From: Travel Oregon <industry at traveloregon.com <mailto:industry at traveloregon.com>>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2026 12:42 PM
> To: GILL Kuri * OPRD <kuri.gill at oregon.gov <mailto:kuri.gill at oregon.gov>>
> Subject: Travel Oregon Announces 2025 Travel & Tourism Industry Achievement Awards
>  
> 
> 
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> March 10, 2026                                                                                                                                                                    Photo by Andie Petkus Photography
>  
> 
> Travel Oregon Announces 2025 Travel & Tourism Industry Achievement Awards at the 2026 Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Portland
> Oregon Coast Travelability takes home the Governor’s Award as catalyst for a statewide initiative to promote and improve accessible tourism
> On Monday, March 9, 2026, the Oregon Tourism Commission (dba Travel Oregon) announced the recipients of the 2025 Oregon Travel and Tourism Industry Achievement Awards at the 2026 Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism at the Oregon Convention Center. Hosted by Travel Oregon, in partnership with Travel Portland, the Governor’s Conference is an educational and interactive learning and networking experience that elevates the diversity of voices of those that collectively make Oregon a welcoming destination for all. More than 600 tourism industry professionals gather for the event to share best practices and align to ensure not only the delivery of exceptional visitor experiences, but that tourism improves quality of life for residents, advances equity, respects the diversity of ecosystems, cultures and places of Oregon and strengthens economic resilience for communities around the state.
> The Governor’s Award: Oregon Coast Travelability
> The Governor’s Award represents the culmination of our industry’s deep appreciation for the service and accomplishments of an individual or individuals who have enhanced the Oregon visitor experience and elevated the travel and tourism industry. 
> Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson was on hand to honor Oregon Coast Travelability—a coastwide, cross-sector collaboration working to make the Oregon Coast a more accessible place to live, work, and visit for people with disabilities—with the 2025 Governor’s Award. Launched in 2022 by a small group of inspired coastal tourism partners, the coalition has grown into a powerful model of collaboration among tourism professionals, disability advocates, local governments, nonprofit entities and businesses.
> To date, the group has helped secure more than $1.3 million in Travel Oregon grant funding for accessibility projects across the coast, funding accessibility verifications by Wheel the World, an online travel platform that helps disabled travelers make informed travel decisions, as well as high-impact projects including accessible tidepool touch tanks at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, an accessible trolley in Yachats, signage on the Coos Bay Boardwalk highlighting the three Tribes indigenous to the area, an inclusive playground in Lincoln City and expanded accessibility assessments.
> “The work of Oregon Coast Travelability was the catalyst for a statewide effort to remove barriers to access for visitors with disabilities,” said Davidson. “In 2025, Oregon became the first state to be Accessibility Verified in partnership with Wheel the World; and though the statewide effort was led by Travel Oregon it was fueled by the momentum, innovation and passionate commitment of this dedicated cross-sector coalition. Their innovative spirit and commitment to collaboration toward this work truly knows no equal.”
> Oregon Marketing Award: Travel Portland
> The Oregon Marketing Award celebrates the best integrated domestic or international overall marketing program or campaign that attracted visitors to Oregon.
> This year’s Oregon Marketing Award goes to the PR team at Travel Portland, who, in 2025, launched a strategic communications campaign to elevate awareness of Portland as America’s Literary Capital. Their work on the unique and innovative Golden Bookmark campaign promoted Portland as the literary haven that it is and successfully captured the interest of potential visitors in five literary-minded cities across the country. The team partnered with Little Free Library to hide Golden Bookmarks specially made by Orox Leather Co. in Little Free Libraries across the country and with one literary and travel minded content creator in each of the five target markets to travel to Portland and tell the tale of the city’s literary scene to their followers. The content not only focused on Portland’s independent bookstores but also announced the search for the Golden Bookmark in their city. 
> Oregon Prosperity Award: Oregon Main Street Statewide Coordinating Program 
> The Oregon Prosperity Award recognizes DMOs or businesses championing the value of tourism, whose vision and commitment help make Oregon's communities, tourism regions and state stronger visitor destinations, creating optimal economic impact.
> Oregon Main Street Statewide Coordinating Program has offered a unifying model for community revitalization in 100+ towns statewide since 2008. Since then, Main Street’s tenets of promotion, organizational support, design and economic vitality with a historic preservation lens, have activated and reactivated communities of all sizes, in every county of Oregon. As of 2021, the work of the Oregon Main Street program and partner organizations have resulted in $134.6 million total economic impact while offering free technical services for local programs, revitalizing downtowns and awarding millions of dollars in grants to communities across the state.
> Oregon Equity Award: Oregon Black Pioneers
> The Equity Award is presented to a business or destination that has demonstrated leadership in raising awareness or facilitating change to build a more inclusive and welcoming environment for visitors to Oregon. 
> Oregon Black Pioneers has earned the Oregon Equity Award and well-deserved recognition for their outstanding leadership in advancing equity through storytelling, education, and cultural preservation of Oregon’s Black communities. From their innovative work in partnership with the tourism community to elevate Oregon’s Black history to the statewide Black History Walking Tours, York Fest and their celebration of Black-owned businesses, Oregon Black Pioneers exemplifies what it means to advance equity through heritage. Their work uplifts underrepresented histories, deepens cultural understanding, and helps create a more inclusive Oregon for all.  
> Oregon Stewardship Award: Local Ocean
> The Stewardship Award recognizes an activity, event, project or program that utilizes a stewardship approach to positively impact Oregon’s economy, cultures and natural environment.  
> The winner of the Oregon Stewardship Award, Local Ocean has always been a leader in the coastal food ecosystem—and in 2025, they took bold, innovative steps toward pioneering a resilient coastal food web. Within months of last year’s Blue Foods Forum, Local Ocean launched a 100 percent fish utilization program to reduce waste at their restaurant, transforming what once might have been discarded into delicious, purposeful products. This year, they created a position for a Business Innovation Specialist to lead the development of their new seafood byproducts, which will transform processing side-streams into high-value products that drive revenue and sustainability and help drive Local Ocean’s mission of becoming the first 100% Fish restaurant in the U.S. 
> The Gene Landsmann Gemütlichkeit Award: Colleen Dougherty
> The Gene Landsmann Gemütlichkeit Award honors an individual of the Oregon Ski Community (Industry/Sport) who embodies the spirit and effect of Gemütlichkeit. A German-language word used to convey the idea of a state or feeling of warmth, friendliness and good cheer. Other qualities encompassed by the term include coziness, quality of life and a sense of belonging and well-being.
> This year’s winner, Colleen Dougherty of Oregon Adaptive Sports, is a shining example of gemütlichkeit within the Oregon ski community. For over three decades she has dedicated her energy, warmth and leadership to ensuring that skiing is a place of belonging for all. As a co-founder of Oregon Adaptive Sports in 1996 and a board member since, Colleen has worked tirelessly to open the mountains to people with disabilities, cultivating a culture of inclusivity, good cheer and possibility on snow. Her personal journey as an adaptive athlete, competing as a Paralympic swimmer, then embracing skiing, cycling and outdoor recreation as a wheelchair user, has inspired countless others to pursue their own passions. Through her unwavering advocacy, her personal warmth and her infections enthusiasm for skiing and community, Colleen Dougherty has made Oregon’s slopes a place where everyone can feel at home.
> Oregon Tourism Rising Star Award: Fiona Wylde (Wylde Wind & Water) 
> The Rising Star Award is presented to an individual who is new to the tourism industry within the last five years in which time they have shown exemplary leadership, commitment and passion for Oregon’s tourism industry. This year, Travel Oregon chose one Rising Star from statewide submissions.
> This year’s Tourism Rising Star goes to Fiona Wylde, the founder of Wylde Wind & Water, a multifaceted organization creating equitable access to water sports programs in the Columbia River Gorge. A professional water sports athlete with world titles in stand-up paddleboard (SUP), windsurfing and wing foiling, Fiona is passionate about the health, mental and environmental benefits of recreating safely on the water. Paid internships with teens in Hood River County School District’s Migrant Education program helps create a skilled and diverse water sports workforce. Fiona was recently appointed by Governor Tina Kotek to serve on the Oregon State Marine Board; her free community SUP and wing foiling summer programs attract tourists from all over the region and the world; and her fee-based youth wing-foiling programs teams and camps serve children from all over the region.
> Watch the award videos here <https://t.e2ma.net/click/53p54r/x162xs/9624g1e>.
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> Contact Travel Oregon at: 971-717-6205 <tel:9717176205> or by email Industry at TravelOregon.com <mailto:Industry at TravelOregon.com>
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