PENDLETON — The Oregon Tourism Commission, also known as Travel Oregon, awarded $25,000 to several Pendleton institutions to support COVID-19-related losses in the city’s tourism industry.

Travel Oregon reallocated funds from their standard medium grant cycle into the newly developed COVID-19 Emergency Response Grant program to help stabilize Oregon tourism businesses and support job retention through covering payroll expenses and operational costs. The goal is to help maintain jobs and keep businesses afloat until travel once again resumes.

Roberta Conner, director of Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, said the grant will be used to keep their frontline employees on board despite closures and resultant loss of revenue to their operating budget.

“The frontline employees are pivotal to the job we do representing the Confederated Tribes,” Conner said. “Some of them are elders, most are tribal members, and the knowledge they share immeasurably impacts the quality of our guests’ experience.”

Kristen Dollarhide, tourism, hospitality and event coordinator for Travel Pendleton, said that travel and tourism in Oregon is an economic driver. Statewide, the travel and tourism industry is a $12.3 billion industry that employs 115,000 Oregonians. According to a travel and tourism report by Travel Oregon, 29.1 million people visited Oregon destinations in 2018.

“The economic impact [of tourism] on the city is huge,” Dollarhide said. “We’re really happy that we received this. It tremendously helps us in these trying times when it comes to the travel industry coming to a halt.”

Travel Pendleton, the tourism arm of the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce, is funded by the tourism promotion assessment charge, which is a tax collected from overnight visitors that stay within the city limits of Pendleton. With the travel industry at a standstill, the tax coming in to support tourism in the city is significantly reduced. As a result, Pendleton’s Chamber of Commerce board had to reduce their budget since the COVID-19 outbreak and lay off several staff members.

“I’m really appreciative of Travel Oregon for offering these types of grants,” Dollarhide said. “To have these opportunities that help our tourism industry is really important. When you have to cut budgets, like everyone had to do recently, and try to do more with less, any amount of funding or grants coming in is really an amazing thing.”

Travel Oregon states these grants are specifically used for business continuity expenses, and in addition to wages and payroll expenses, the grant money will also be spent on marketing and other promotions for the city of Pendleton.

Part of the reason the city of Pendleton was selected for this grant, according to Dollarhide, is because they work closely with regional state tourism organizations, marketing to cities, such as Seattle, Spokane and Portland.

Out of 332 applications submitted, 121 grants totaling $800,225 were awarded statewide as part of a COVID-19 emergency relief grant project. According to Travel Oregon, 90% of funds were directed toward businesses in communities with a population of 35,000 or fewer. A total of 16 Eastern Oregon institutions were awarded. In Pendleton, the city’s Chamber of Commerce, Travelodge Pendleton and Umatilla County Tourism received $5,000 and Tamástslikt Cultural Institute received $10,000 in grant funding.

“Our hope is that these grant dollars help keep businesses and organizations from shuttering permanently,” said Todd Davidson, CEO of Travel Oregon, in a press release. “Long term, it is these businesses that will be crucial to the state’s economic recovery.”

Other Eastern Oregon grant recipients include Winding Waters River Expeditions in Joseph, the Geiser Grand Hotel in Baker City and the Union County Chamber of Commerce in La Grande.

The grantees will maintain spending records to ensure grant funds are allocated properly, and are required to spend the funds by December 31, 2020, according to Travel Oregon.

“I hope that with this grant we are able to keep everyone employed, prepared for our reopening, and ready to welcome guests back,” Conner said.