Portland City Council Approves Tourism Bureau’s $74,500 Promotion Campaign for ‘LGTBQ+’ and ‘BIPOC’ Markets

Visit Portland, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization that promotes tourism in the greater Portland area, is set to launch a $74,500 marketing campaign targeted towards “LGBTQ+” and “BIPOC” — Black, Indigenous, and people of color — markets, following approval of the plan by the Portland City Council on Monday.

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During their Monday meeting, the Portland City Council voted 5-2 to approve the agreement for fiscal year 2024-2025, under which the city will remit to Visit Portland nearly $1.5 million in assessment fees collected from 23 hotels in a downtown Portland area designated as the “Portland Tourism Development District.”

As per the city’s agreement with the nonprofit, an estimated $745,000 out of the remitted assessment fees are to be spent on marketing and promotional efforts for events and conferences in the Tourism Development District.

It is required by the agreement that ten percent of that marketing budget — an estimated $74,500 — “shall be allotted specifically to reach the BIPOC, LGBTQ+ markets, and community DEI efforts.”

Projects undertaken by Visit Portland to reach the “BIPOC” and “LGBTQ+” markets include marketing campaigns with advertisements across multiple platforms, providing financial incentives to groups hosting large-scale events and conventions at the hotels, and sponsorships to promote Portland as a “destination of choice” for those markets.

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Speaking on the order to approve the agreement prior to its passage, City Councilor Kate Sykes — former co-chair of the Maine Democratic Socialists of America (Maine DSA) — said the fund will market Portland to “a more diverse population.”

“This sets up a new district where hotels will pay into a fund to allow Visit Portland to create a tourism program to do lots of different things, among which is marketing Portland to a more diverse population, LBTQ and BIPOC populations specifically,” Sykes said Monday.

“And just to basically create sort of a broader message about what Portland is about and why Portland is a great place to visit,” Sykes said.

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“I support this program, I think it’s really great, it’s good for our city, and I think Councilor [Regina] Phillips was talking about how can we make a concerted effort to honor the people — marginal people — that live in the city and visit our city year-round, and this is how we do it,” she added. “So, I think we’re putting our money where our mouth is here.”

The agreement between the city and Visit Portland was approved by a 5-2 vote, with Councilors Anna Trevorrow and Roberto Rodriguez voting against its passage.