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Local delegation tries to drum up tourist business Regional tourism officials were in Nashville, Tenn., last week, trying to sell Southern Oregon as a destination. A group of eight representatives went to the National Tour Association's six-day national convention, which drew more than 3,300 participants. The name of the game was attracting the eye of motorcoach tour operators and Southern Oregon representatives got appointments with 36 of them, according to Julie Petretto, executive director of the Medford Visitors and Convention Bureau. "It's a good market for us," Petretto says, noting that attractions like Crater Lake, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Bear Creek Corp. are popular with the bus tour groups. "We try to sell the region as a whole." Group travel is an $11 billion industry in North America and brings $60 million into Oregon each year, Petretto says. She estimates that a tour bus staying in Southern Oregon for just one night pumps $4,000, or $90 per passenger, into the local economy. "It's a market we cannot afford not to pursue," she says. Attracting tour buses has long been a part of the region's tourism strategy; Petretto was making her ninth trip to the national convention. She says the region has been getting as many buses in recent years as it did in the early 1990s, largely because of increased competition from other areas. But she says Southern Oregon had a larger presence at the conference than any other region in the state, something she hopes will pay off down the road. Most of the tour operators at the convention were exploring agendas for tours in 2001 and 2002. Petretto was joined by representatives from Bear Creek, Rogue Regency Inn, Crater Lake Co., Oregon Caves, Ashland Windmill Inn, Hellgate Jet Boats, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Ashland Chamber of Commerce. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA