The Newberry Country Trail is a newly established tourist attraction in Central Oregon.
The trail begins and ends in La Pine, Oregon, and is 153 miles long. Because the trail
has not officially been introduced to the public, potential visitors are unaware of all it has
to offer. The City of La Pine hopes to make new audiences such as Oregon college
students and young families aware of this source of year-round adventure. The trail
highlights Central Oregon’s natural beauty and offers a wide variety of outdoor activities.
Its most popular attractions are biking, hiking, swimming, snowmobiling and skiing.
While it has been marketed as a family-friendly location, La Pine would like the see the
Newberry Country Trail visited by more college-aged adventurers as well. Along the trail
are popular Oregon landmarks such as Crescent Lake, Christmas Valley, Paulina Lake
and Fort Rock.
The Newberry Country Trail project has received grant money from Travel Oregon to
help increase tourism. The project is a part of the Travel Oregon Rural Tourism Studio.
With the help of Travel Oregon, La Pine will be able to interact with its new target
audiences in strategic ways. Since the trail offers outdoor activities for all skill levels,
people from all backgrounds can enjoy what the trail has to offer.
Some of the sites on the Newberry Country Trail, and even La Pine itself, can still be
considered hidden gems, unknown even to native Oregonians. Establishing a social
media presence, updating visual aesthetics for the trail, connecting with travel
influencers and collaborating with breweries and brands are viable opportunities
available to La Pine to create awareness for the Newberry Country Trail.
The beauty surrounding La Pine creates a natural opportunity for promotional
photography. High-quality, professional photos can be used on all channels, including
social media and the Newberry Country Trail website.
This strategic plan will allow La Pine and the Newberry Country Trail to promote the
hidden gems that are waiting to be explored to a more targeted audience than before.
Implementing the following strategies and tactics will lead La Pine to an established
online presence and, with time, an increase in tourism to the Newberry Country Trail.
This plan also sets a timeline for La Pine to establish the strategies and provided tactics
for success.
Some examples of success that we’ve found to be useful through our best practices
research are the Boise Trails website, social media practices utilized by Hydro Flask
and the Bend Ale Trail map.
Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.
Sustainable City Year Program Contact Info
Megan Banks
Sustainable City Year Program Manager
mbanks@uoregon.edu
(541) 346-6395
University Faculty Contact
Margy Parker
Journalism
mparker3@uoregon.edu
Local Government / Community Contact