City of Bend tells tourists: Stay away until Labor Day

(Update: Adding video, comments from city, Wanderlust Tours, Visit Bend)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Bend city councilors, by a 4-3 vote, have directed City Manager Eric King to issue a new travel advisory to discourage tourism as the area sees a rise in recent COVID-19 cases.

During Wednesday night’s council meeting, Councilor Bill Moseley criticized the Visit Bend website for still promoting visits to the city amid the pandemic.

Moseley told NewsChannel 21 Thursday he is concerned about the increase in out-of-town visitors, placing workers in frequented areas such as restaurants and locally owned businesses at risk of contracting the virus.

“The last numbers I saw showed we are about at 80% of our peak season from last year, so the numbers are climbing,” Moseley said. “You can tell just by driving around town, seeing the out-of-town license plates. There’s kind of a happening scene at some of these places.”

A slim majority of councilors directed City Manager Eric King to reissue a travel advisory that was in place during the governor's earlier phases of her "Stay Home" order. They directed the revised advisory to expire on Labor Day, and to share it with Visit Bend.

Moseley, Justin Livingston, Mayor Sally Russell and Gena Goodman-Campbell were in favor; Chris Piper, Bruce Abernethy and Barb Campbell were opposed.

“There’s many people that are being hurt by being unemployed, their businesses are failing, and a variety of things, and at the same time, we want people to be safe,” Moseley said.

A statement currently on Visit Bend's website says, "The Visit Bend team recognizes the impact of Coronavirus not just on a worldwide scale, but on our cherished community."

In an email sent to NewsChannel 21, Visit Bend said, "Visit Bend was proud to be one of the first destination marketing organizations in the country to suspend all advertising at the start of this pandemic in early March, and since then we’ve aggressively used our website, blog, and social media channels to urge safety and personal responsibility."

"The COVID-19 page on our website is one of our most heavily trafficked pages, and for weeks we’ve had strong messaging on all our top-ranking pages reminding locals and visitors to wear masks, practice good hygiene, and enjoy Bend responsibly," the statement continues. "We fully support the reinstatement of travel restrictions, and we’re adding additional messaging to the website underscoring the importance of staying home and staying safe."

Dave Nissen, the owner and president of Wanderlust Tours in Bend, sent NewsChannel 21 the following statement.

"It is regrettable the city council felt compelled to implement a travel advisory urging visitors to not come to Bend. It exemplifies the risk COVID-19 is posing to our community's physical health.

"The decision will, once again, cripple an industry so important to our city's vitality and clearly imperil the security of our community members' livelihood. I respect the council's deliberation, surely it is a decision that was not easy to make."

City Attorney Mary Winters noted the city's previous travel advisory expired when Deschutes County entered the Phase 2 reopening process.

King told NewsChannel 21 on Thursday he'll "be issuing something within the next few days" and then ask the council to formally ratify it at their next meeting, on August 5.

King said hotels and lodging facilities will be strongly encouraged to refrain from book reservations for tourists. 

Moseley said, “If we get two or three times the number of cases we have right now, we’ll be in a position where we have to take additional action to protect people. I’m just hoping, for the sake of all our livelihoods, we don’t get to that point.”

The city also said the advisory will serve as a warning, and there will be no enforcement at this time.