Mountain state of Idaho in the east being a particularly strong entry point.
Each of the five centres give accounts of the travels and struggles of thousands of Americans who headed west on their 2,000-mile journey in the mid-1800s.
They are the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute at Pendleton – the only Indian-owned centre on the trail – the Four Rivers Museum at Ontario, another at Flagstaff Hill in Baker City, the Columbia Gorge Discovery Centre in The Dalles and the fifth, at the end of the trail, in Oregon City near Portland. “We have produced a brochure which details all the attractions of the five cultural centres,” said Rathbun-Moser.
The circuit of trail centres also provides a number of interesting stop-offs. Travellers can camp in covered wagons and tepees at Farewell Bend State Park and view some of the best-preserved traces of the trail between Le Grande and Pendleton. The Round-up Hall of Fame in Pendleton and the turn-of-the-century dwellings at Hood River are also popular.
Rathbun-Moser said the state’s tourism commission is keen to promote the core attractions of Oregon in a new UK consumer campaign as part of its latest two-year marketing initiative to 2001.
“More funds are needed in order to do this, and we would like to work more closely with Idaho, Washington State and even California in trying to attract more mature repeat-clients from the UK” she added.
Oregon has also launched a new nature-based guide to focus on the growing number of back-to-nature type tours now available in the state, including trips to the Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls, a northern Oregon coastal tour, and ancient forest walks and hikes.
BRITAIN’S interest in following parts of the Oregon Trail has put a spotlight on the region’s history and culture.
Oregon Tourism Commission Travel trade marketing manager Billie Rathbun-Moser said: “According to our research, British travellers are keen on US cultural heritage and back-to-nature products.”
She added that more UK visitors are using the locations of the state’s five Oregon National Historic Trail interpretive centres as a routing for independent self-drives, with the Rocky Mountain state of Idaho in the east being a particularly strong entry point.
Each of the five centres give accounts of the travels and struggles of thousands of Americans who headed west on their 2,000-mile journey in the mid-1800s.
They are the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute at Pendleton – the only Indian-owned centre on the trail – the Four Rivers Museum at Ontario, another at Flagstaff Hill in Baker City, the Columbia Gorge Discovery Centre in The Dalles and the fifth, at the end of the trail, in Oregon City near Portland. “We have produced a brochure which details all the attractions of the five cultural centres,” said Rathbun-Moser.
The circuit of trail centres also provides a number of interesting stop-offs. Travellers can camp in covered wagons and tepees at Farewell Bend State Park and view some of the best-preserved traces of the trail between Le Grande and Pendleton. The Round-up Hall of Fame in Pendleton and the turn-of-the-century dwellings at Hood River are also popular.
Rathbun-Moser said the state’s tourism commission is keen to promote the core attractions of Oregon in a new UK consumer campaign as part of its latest two-year marketing initiative to 2001.
“More funds are needed in order to do this, and we would like to work more closely with Idaho, Washington State and even California in trying to attract more mature repeat-clients from the UK” she added.
Oregon has also launched a new nature-based guide to focus on the growing number of back-to-nature type tours now available in the state, including trips to the Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls, a northern Oregon coastal tour, and ancient forest walks and hikes.