Page 121 - Clackamas County Watertourism Strategic Plan. Final.v3

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR WATER-BASED TOURISM IN CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON THE OPPORTUNITIES
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east. Nonetheless, Clackamas County has a competitive advantage on the future of fishing. They have more opportunities to offer fishing to new markets, it Improving the
is geographically better positioned, and it is a level playing field. The following recommendations are intended for Clackamas County to take the lead on the Experience
future of fishing.

Recommendation 29: Develop Fishing Packages with Lodging Business
Anglers spend the most overnights of all water-based tourists. The highest spending anglers and the largest untapped angler markets are in locations beyond
100 miles. Providing a package of fishing guide services and lodging makes sense. During this research, it was found that some fishing guides are interested in working with
lodging establishments but don’t know how and some lodging establishments are wondering how to expand their customer base. The research from this report shows that the
strongest relationships between guides and lodging amounted to a conversation, a handshake, and an exchange of business cards. A more formal and stronger connect should
be built. The Mt. Hood DMO should facilitate a series of workshops to coordinate the two groups. The results of the workshops should be working agreements between lodging
business and angler guides. One approach might be a central coordinator, like the DMO, to merge the two bookings. As it stands now, visitors seeking to fish are on their own
to contact a guide. The lodging business might have a few names and numbers but that is all the help they get. Likewise, a prospective visitor booking a guided trip might get
some names of lodging businesses and instruct the caller to find the hotel’s web site. The objective here is to make it easy for visitors to pick a lodging business and have a
guided trip available. They might also seek a guide first and have the lodging available through them because they have an agreed working relationship, or vice-versa. The DMO
web site can provide this coordination, “Book a guided trip with one of the following fishing guides and receive 10% off lodging at your choice of the following
accommodations…” The workshops should result in a final agreement between the businesses on how this relationship is mutually beneficial.

This arrangement should be structured to serve all market segments, from the high-end, east-coast angler seeking a pampered trip to a family of 4 arriving by mini-van from
southern California looking for a weekend of water fun by day and smores around the campfire at night.