In early 2019, the Tillamook County Commissioners, in partnership with the Future’s Council, initiated a stakeholder driven planning process to develop a new strategy to inform future investment priorities for the Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) funds. The County contracted Future iQ, a research and consultancy company, to design and facilitate a data-driven and innovative approach to thinking about the future of tourism in the County. This project has run from January to June 2019, with over 300 local people having detailed input. This has included a good cross-section of people from across the County and included local residents and industry representatives.
This work has produced a number of key outcomes, including:
- Tied together previous work, including previous community listening sessions.
- Engaged the key community members and industry ecosystem and network.
- Identified a preferred future, called ‘Connected Balance’.
- Created a sustainability framework and working definition, that lays the foundation for a long-term balanced outcome.
- Built a decision-making tool, to help guide future investments.
The project has aimed to produce outcomes at two main levels:
- Strategic vision and action plan: The planning process was designed to identify a long-term strategic vision for tourism in the County and identify a series of key enabling recommendations.
- Tactical investment decision-making:The investment of the Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) funds is one of the key tools the County has to shape the future direction of the tourism industry. The project has produced a decision-making framework and tool to help the County Commissioners set priorities for investment. These priorities have been established and validated with local stakeholders.
