Bend and Central Oregon are prime locations for Oregon’s Labor Day vacationers

Bend and Central Oregon are anticipated to be the highest Labor Day weekend journey locations within the state, in line with the journey group AAA, regardless of rising journey prices and gasoline costs reaching report ranges for the vacation weekend.

The projected weekend tourism rush could be a welcome infusion of money for Bend and Central Oregon companies earlier than the summer season tourism season winds down. Visit Bend spokesperson Tim Neville mentioned Labor Day is the area’s “last breath of summer.”

Labor Day is nonetheless large for native companies, mentioned Nate Wyeth, Visit Bend’s chief of employees, as a result of the shoulder season is usually a monetary problem for companies that depend on summer season booms.

“Any opportunity that these small businesses have to make money on key holiday weekends like this, they’re gonna do all they can to recover as much of those dollars as possible,” he mentioned.

While summer season recreation has been dampened by wildfire smoke in recent times, Wyeth mentioned the smoke from this 12 months’s report wildfire season didn’t grasp round lengthy sufficient to have an effect on earnings in Bend.

AAA spokesperson Marie Dodds mentioned the group expects a report variety of vacationers to get out this weekend, a pattern that has continued since journey restrictions eased after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Central Oregon is such a beautiful area. There’s so much to see and do. It’s one of those places where there truly is something for everybody,” Dodds mentioned. Bend’s proximity to the Redmond airport — and being inside driving distance for a lot of Oregonians — contributes to its recognition, she added.

The anticipated tourism surge comes regardless of journey prices being up throughout the board, Dodds mentioned: resorts and flights are dearer this 12 months and world conflicts in Iran and Ukraine are pushing up costs on the pump.

Travelers driving from Portland to Bend this weekend can count on to pay a mean of $4.82 on the pump, almost a greenback greater than final 12 months’s Labor Day gasoline costs. Drivers ought to count on visitors to be at its worst round 5:45 p.m on Friday, in line with the journey membership.

It’s not simply gasoline costs. Hotels are up in comparison with this time final 12 months as effectively, which Dodds mentioned might be a results of downstream results from world conflicts or labor prices.

Average room charges in Bend over Labor Day weekend elevated by $44 from 2024 to 2025, in line with Visit Bend, a neighborhood tourism workplace for the Central Oregon metropolis.

The Westman Hotel, a high-end boutique lodge that opened its doorways in Bend’s former U.S. Post Office in December 2025, is charging larger charges than initially projected, mentioned Sondra Storm, Embarcadero Management Group CEO and founder, as a consequence of inflation and elevated working prices.

She mentioned different resorts the group manages in Oregon are additionally growing costs due to larger prices.

Airports are predicted to be busier than regular although home flights are dearer than final 12 months’s Labor Day weekend, in line with AAA. Jodi Low, Redmond Municipal Airport spokesperson, inspired vacationers to reach at the very least two hours earlier than departure as a result of anticipated enhance in air journey.

The municipal airport is beneath development so as to add 80,000 sq. toes. It is predicted to be completed in November 2027, she mentioned.

“We do not anticipate delays or cancellations related to weather or construction,” Low mentioned in an electronic mail.