Throughout the day, dynamic keynote speakers and interactive workshops will explore some of the most important issues facing our industry, including:

• Meetings & Sports Group Sales: Where You Fit in the Visitor Journey
  Every meeting attendee and sports family visiting Salem creates opportunities for local businesses—from arrival and downtime to dining, shopping, excursions, receptions and extended stays. The key is knowing where your business fits into their experience and how to turn those moments into new customers. This session maps both the Meetings & Conventions attendee journey and the sports family journey, showing hotels, restaurants, attractions, venues and vendors where opportunities exist before, during and after an event. Learn how your business can help enhance the visitor experience while benefiting from group and sports business already coming to our community. You’ll leave with practical ideas, a clearer understanding of Travel Salem’s sales pipeline, and concrete next steps for positioning your business for upcoming meetings, conventions, tournaments and sporting events.
• Don’t Skip the Basics: Build a Stronger Marketing Foundation
  Great marketing starts with a strong foundation. This practical workshop will help tourism and hospitality businesses understand the essential marketing basics that make it easier to gain exposure through Travel Salem’s existing channels. Learn how to better position your business for inclusion in content, PR and media opportunities, publications, digital marketing, visitor communications and more. The bottom line: The easier you make it for us to market your business, the more opportunities we have to put you in front of potential customers.
• Leadership in the 21st Century
  What it takes to successfully lead teams through disruption, innovation and rapid change
• Effective and Generational Communication
• Oregon’s Tourism Political Landscape
  What’s happening at the state and local level and how changes could impact the industry

Attendees will leave with more than great ideas. You’ll take home real-world tools, actionable resources and practical techniques you can put to work immediately in your organization.

And we’ll take time to celebrate the people who make our visitor industry so special with the Most Oregon Part of Oregon (MOPO) Awards, recognizing outstanding tourism professionals and accomplishments from across our region.

Tourism generates more than $822 million annually for Salem and the Mid-Willamette Valley. Behind that economic impact are thousands of people, businesses and organizations working every day to create exceptional experiences for our visitors. The Tourism Summit is our opportunity to come together, invest in ourselves and one another and prepare for what’s next.

Registration: $75
Registration Deadline: October 27

Workshop space is limited, so register early to reserve your seat!

Interested in becoming a 2026 Mid-Willamette Valley Tourism Summit sponsor? Contact Irene at Irene@TravelSalem.com for sponsorship opportunities.

COME READY TO LEARN. COME READY TO CONNECT. COME READY TO LEAD.

Register Your Group Today

The Salem Area Sports Commission has commissioned Sports Facilities Companies to conduct a feasibility study on developing a new outdoor sports complex. With strong community interest in more playable fields, SASC sees an opportunity to boost community usage while driving additional tourism dollars if the project moves forward.

Salem has also been selected to host an Oregon Sports Familiarization (FAM) Tour, organized by the Huddle Up Group. The tour will bring 20 sports event planners from across the country to showcase the state as a premier sports tourism destination. At least 10 Oregon destinations will participate, giving each the chance to meet with planners, build relationships and promote their communities while showcasing the sights and attractions of Salem and Eugene. The FAM Tour, scheduled for October 19 – 21, 2026, is made possible through a partnership between Travel Oregon, the Willamette Valley Visitors Association and Eugene, Cascades & Coast (Travel Lane County).

SASC continues to deliver results for our community. When a sporting event comes to Salem, the economic impact extends well beyond the venue by filling hotel rooms, supporting restaurants and driving traffic to local businesses and attractions. We're pleased to share the following recent key events:

The Meetings & Conventions team works year-round to attract conferences, corporate retreats and group gatherings that fill hotel rooms mid-week, support local businesses and bring new visitors to our region.

On September 3, 2026, Greg Heinze, CMP/CGMP/PDM, Travel Salem's VP of Meetings & Conventions, hosted a HelmsBriscoe planner and their client on a familiarization (FAM) tour, showcasing venues including the Holman Riverfront Park Hotel, Salem Convention Center, the Grand Hotel, the Holiday Inn Salem, The Independence Hotel, Chemeketa Eola, Archive Coffee & Bar, Taproot Lounge & Cafe, Cascadia Pizza Co., The Cozy Taberna, Magoo’s Sports Bar and The Coin Jam.

We have expanded our prospecting efforts by becoming an Enhanced Partner with third-party planner network LamontCo, gaining direct access to their affiliated planners. We've also upgraded our Cvent services to include Business Insights and Planner Navigator offering powerful analytics and prospecting tools.

Salem recently hosted the Oregon Human Development Corporation (OHDC) Summer Summit (August 3 – 4), drawing 225 attendees and generating an estimated $37,933 in economic impact. Looking ahead, Greg will represent Travel Salem at several fall tradeshows, including Planner Hero (September 24, Portland), Associations West: Next Wave Conference (October 4 – 6, Blaine, WA) and Connect West (November 4 – 6, Scottsdale, AZ).